Blue Piano, Edgbaston, Birmingham

Guesthouse, restaurant and bar housed in a terrace of quite substantial buildings, but a place best known for its diverse range of live music events. The bar area to the right of the entrance lobby (where the eponymous musical instrument can be found) is a plain affair, reminiscent of a somewhat dowdy seaside hotel, but thankfully - and somewhat surprisingly - it does have real ale on handpump; Holden's Golden Glow (£4.00) when I called by, enjoyed with some roots country / blues music in the background.

Called in to see what was on as we were passing, and found the large building had a restaurant to the left and a bar to the right. There were 2 or 3 tables and chairs plus a couple of higher tables and chairs. It looked as though it was a bar meant for folk to meet up for a drink before dning. There was 1 handpump so we had the Wye Valley HPA which was fine. Pleasant background music was playing. There were notices around for live music usually on a Friday.

Official site of Blue Piano Bar - www.thebluepiano.co.uk