The Horse & Jockey, Bilston

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Horse & Jockey

Quite a large and popular pub unusually located just below a suburban road. For an early Tuesday evening, the pub was much busier than I had anticipated. The car park was full and whilst the front bar was reasonably quiet, the large rear lounge was packed.

There are 4 handpulls in each room with at least one beer duplicated but some were unclipped. Both cask and keg beers were also listed on one wall in the bar, along with those coming next. Regular beers are Hobson's Town Crier & Twisted Spire & St Austell Tribute. Guests were Castle Rock Elsie Mo & Brian Clough & Salopian Lost Horizon, whilst there was also a cider - Lilley's Apples & Pears. Craft beers were Salopian Auric & Hobson's Citra Mosaic.

I ordered halves of both the Brian Clough and the Lost Horizon. Both were pale ales and had a similar appearance. I have to admit that I lost sight of which was which. One was very nice but the other was clearly the end of the barrel. Seeing the young barmaid having to turn the clips round to see which ones I was ordering didn't initially fill me with confidence and had I remembered which beer was which, I would have returned the one half. But it's difficult to argue your case when you can't identify which beer was off!

Various rolls were available on the bar. I indulged in a cheese & onion one which was a fair size and was a good substitute for a sit down meal. Proper meals are available here also. I chose to sit in the bar which soon filled up and also had all tables taken by the time I departed.

Kids are welcome and so are dogs. This is a decent local pub with plenty going for it. I perhaps hit a bit unlucky with my one beer choice but otherwise I was fairly impressed.

On 24^th September 2025 - rating: 6
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