The Newhall Arms, Cannock

It's hard to see what this place originally was as it doesn't really look like a shop conversion from outside. Inside it's a roughly square room with the bar counter on the left. There are tiles around the bar and a carpet to the right where there is a decent amount of low seating. There are a few tall stools at the bar and by a shelf. It's a fair bit bigger than most micropubs but it's the way it's run that counts rather than the size. There is a small sound system which was in use but it seemed to be more for the benefit of the bloke behind the bar as he kept switching the tracks around. I was the only one in when I arrived but if there were more people I doubt that music would be not all that audible. Thankfully there are no TVs at all or any other distractions. A gin evening was advertised for Valentine's Day so like many of these places they do a few specialist spirits. The bar has two sets of five hand pumps which on my Thursday midday visit had three unused, two ciders, Anarchy Urban Assault, Ludlow Best, Slater's Ultra, Ilkley Mary Jane and Fuller's Damson Porter. I went for the Urban Assault (£3.30) and the Damson Porter (£3.00). The Urban Assault was reasonably OK but the Damson Porter was excellent and it made me feel very smug thinking how much in excess of £3.00 it would have cost in a Central London Fullers pub. Despite the irrelevant size, for me this was a genuine micropub and I would happily return.

Newly opened micro(?) pub, run by the family behind The Ashmore, Wednesfield.