The Horse & Jockey, Bilston

Slightly isolated, out in the middle of a predominantly residential area, this is a pub that's well set up to serve the local community but presumably gets little in the way of passing trade. Having said that, I was afforded a very warm welcome on my recent Saturday early afternoon visit and felt very comfortable sitting down for a relaxing pint. The pub has a reasonably large, two room layout, with steps taking you down from street level through a decent outdoor seating area and into a lobby with a quarry stone floor and some old maps of the local area on the wall. A door to the right takes you into the front public bar which is carpeted throughout and has a couple of long U-shaped banquette running under the front windows, separated by nice wooden partitioning panels. The pleasant dark wood servery runs along the rear wall at the far end of the room and boasts a pump clip lined bar back. To the left of the bar there is a space dedicated to the dartboard, whilst over to the right, a brick fireplace sports a large stove and has a plain mirror above flanked by more pump clips and a TV screen showing Football Focus. The lobby area also leads to the rear, where you'll find a large split level lounge with a curved bar counter in the front right corner and lots of comfy banquette and standard seating throughout. The room is part bare boarded and part carpeted and seemed like a good place to settle down with food or if bringing children. The handpulls are split between the two bars, so make sure you consult the boards at the bar for the full range. Options on this visit were Hobson's Twisted Spire, Greene King Abbot Ale, Oakham Bishops Farewell, St Austell Tribute, Newbridge Solaris and Springhead Moustache Meg. I gave the Twisted Spire a try - the barmaid pulled the line through before serving a pretty good pint which I enjoyed supping over the day's papers. I enjoyed my visit to this friendly pub - there was a warm, welcoming feel to the place and it felt like the sort of pub you would be glad to call your local. Despite appearing to be somewhat out on a limb, it is only a 10 minute walk from the Beacon Hotel in Sedgely and I would recommend making the effort to get out here as they make a good double header.