Queens Head, Lichfield

There are two banks of three hand pumps here, with beers exclusively from the Marstons stable. I tried the innovative Banks's Howling Wolf, which has been described elsewhere as a dark mild, with rich smokey aromas and a citrus bite. Being prepared to try anything once I overcame my initial doubts about citrus flavours in a mild, but although the beer wasn't undrinkable I have to say that my prejudice against strong hoppiness in a MILD was confirmed. Slightly dodgy beer aside, this was a pleasant enough pub and we enjoyed our brief visit here. With most of Lichfield's pubs being in the hands of Marstons there tends to be a bit of sameness about them, so that on a crawl like we were, they tend to blur together a little. If you want to settle into one pub for a longer session, though, this would be as good as any.

There is little to add to Ale Monster's accurate review.I thought the farmhouse style furniture around the entrances to the loos looked a little out of place but maybe necessary due to a greater focus on food,with a Caribbean menu available to eat in or take away,and a USP on the food front in Lichfield.My jerk chicken and plain rice came in at £5 and was fine.In the past known for it's selection of cheese,the stand alone fridge was looking a little threadbare on my Friday lunchtime trip however. The ale policy now seems to concentrate on beers from the Marston's portfolio apart from a regular TT Landlord which was in good enough condition to warrant the 2013 GBG listing,although not served with as tight a sparkler as you would find in Keighley. There are pubs with a better ale range in town,but if you want a friendly atmosphere in an open plan lounge setting,this is a reliable pub for a pint.

A lovely traditional red brick Georgian town house style pub which was built in the 1830’s and is grade II listed, it is now owned by Marston’s Brewery. The interior has one wide but shallow room with a nice dark wood bar counter in the middle of the back wall immediately opposite the central entrance. There are two fire places, one in the right hand wall which is Victorian style cast iron with decorative tile surround and the second in the left front wall which is more of a rustic open cast grate style, the floor is mostly natural wood with a small red carpeted square in the left hand area, couple of old wood settles and other traditional pub furniture, the walls are half wood panel with occasional old photos and paintings, there is a flat screen TV high up in the front right corner which was off during this visit. There is a small enclosed beer patio at the rear of the building with modern chrome garden furniture which seemed a bit out of place considering how traditional the interior is (despite the TV of course). Regular ales are currently Marston’s Pedigree, Banks’s Mild, Brakspear Oxford Gold and Timothy Taylor Landlord with a single changing guest beer which had unfortunately run out just before we arrived (GBG 2010 and Cask Marque). I tried the Mild and the Landlord which were both very good. Surprising to see something other than Marston’s beers on the bar of one of their pubs, but I have seen this a couple of times in the last year or so. This is a splendid pub with nice traditional character, despite it being close to the town centre it felt very much like a friendly local’s pub. They are noted for there selection of rare whiskies, 15 or so cheeses and fresh home cooked food. We met a certain Mr Tony Christie of “Is this the way to Amarillo” fame here who apparently lives in Lichfield and is a regular! Very modest and down to earth, luckily for him we hadn’t had too many by this stage so he was spared a drunken rendition of his hit song. I enjoyed our visit and would gladly return if in Lichfield again.

A decent little pub with a fair selection of well-kept ales, most of which were fairly familiar. My Timothy Taylor Landlord was in good form. The Marstons Ale House sign is impressive.