The Fountain Inn, Tipton

This old canalside pub is owned by Punch Taverns according to What Pub which seems more likely than Marston / Banks's because as a former Holt Deacon & Plant house it would almost certainly have previously been an Ansell's pub. I arrived here mid afternoon on a Tuesday to find it surprisingly busy. What was almost certainly at least two rooms is now just a single room with a sort of island bar in the middle. There is still a dart board in the area to the left. The bar has seven hand pumps which had a cider, Banks's Mild, Bootleg Urban Fox, London Pride, Wye Valley HPA, Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Hobson's Town Crier. I went for the HPA (£3.00) which was excellent. I thought this was a very pleasant pub despite the beer selection being a bit mainstream.

This is a canalside Banks's pub, with beer garden. The pub is grade II listed and is Georgian in style; and is ever associated with the Tipton Slasher, one William Perry, whose statue stands nearby. The pub is white rendered, with an upper row of sash windows and a lower Victorian frontage, although it has pilasters and entablature. The interior has an L-shaped room that is in white and wood panel, with a coffee ceiling and somebeams. The seating is gold in clour and there are a couple of tiled fireplaces at either end. Old local photos and Tipton Slasher stuff is dotted about and there is a dart board in the old snug part of the room. The TV wasn't on and the background music was general and at a decent level. The service was friendly and there were lots of people, most outside, of all ages. Beer; usual tap stuff with Adnam's Southwold Bitter, Brakspear Bitter, Lees Bitter (decent), Wye Valley HPA, Banks's Bitter and MILD (decent) on handpull. A great pub and one definitely worth a vist - I could have stopped here for hours. A ray of light in Tipton.

The Fountain is a decent looking pub and when i first visited this pub it was an Holt,Plant &Deacon house with a decent choice of beers on the bar. The pub s now badged as a banks's free house, once inside the pub was fairly smart and well kept i had a drink of Banks's bitter and this was ok.

A real pub, this is as good as it gets.