Tamworth Tap, Tamworth

Since my visit nearly two years ago this pub has won Camra's national Pub of the Year award. I raised an eyebrow at the news, since my memory told me that the place is badly designed, with the bar counter forming a cramped area and causing a bottle neck for people going past. It was just as busy as I remember it from my previous visit, possibly busier, and I felt a bit rushed in choosing my beers, so plumped for a pint of Bathams Bitter, a name that I recognised. I well remember having this beer for the first time in Bridgnorth but this was not in such good condition, and wasn't helped by its big frothy head. I found a less crowded area upstairs, but there was loud background music here that I found intrusive. Luckily, I hadn't been part of the assessment process for Pub of the Year.

An early evening visit between trains on my way home from Stafford, and as it turned out my train was 10 minutes late so I could have stayed for another half. It was quite busy and I didn't have the opportunity to look around. The bar counter felt a little cramped, with eight hand pumps serving a wide variety of beer styles from mostly well-established independent breweries (Thornbridge, Oakham, Chalk Hill, Twickenham, Beowulf, Uley), plus the never-heard-of Bang the Elephant (from Langley Mill) and just one beer from the premises behind the bar. I went for Tamworth Ale, not realising that it was actually a murky grapefruit pale and not to my taste at all - the first time I have not finished a beer for a very long time. I swerved the beer from Langley Mill (an "alpine snow strawberry pale stout" which I presumed would live up to the brewery's slogan "Subvert the Stereotype", but wasn't prepared to invest the time or money to find out) and went for Uley Harvest Special, a bitter made with fresh hops, and this one went down a treat. As I said, it was busy here with what I took to be a post-work crowd of mainly younger people, but I found myself a seat near the front window and within beneficial distance of the stove and had a little chat with two men of not quite my age who were drinking the Twickenham Yakima Valley ABA (an American brown ale) which they said was very good. As has been mentioned previously, Tamworth is coming up in the world in terms of pubs and beers for the discerning consumer, and I will certainly be back before long.