The Pretty Bricks (New Inn), Walsall

Time for a re-review after this pub has re-opened as a part of the Black Country Ales chain. The pub is called the New Inns, apart from a brief spell when it was known as the Tap & Spile (see Andy Ven's photo of the pub lantern, which i think was originally put up in 1950). The Pretty Bricks is a nickname based on the brown and cream ceramic tiled exterior. The rest of this detached pub is now in cream render, with some blue paintwork and etched windows. The pub is mid-Victorian and was a GBG regular. There is a rear patio area. The interior - the layout of the pub is of course still the same - two rooms either side of a central wooden serving bar, with coloured glass. They are accessed by a corridor in cream patterned wallpaper and red walls. The front room is the bar room. It is in a mix of red and a salmony colour, with white ceiling and a patterned carpet. There is a stone fireplace at the end and some pew seating. BCA posters and a few old photos grace the walls, with a bookcase/dresser which displays ephemera in the corner as you enter. The lounge is in Cream patterned paper and red walls, again with a white ceiling and red patterned carpet. There is another stone fireplace, with a stove in it. The seats are red. There was no TV that i saw and the background music was general and very subdued. They do food in the day and cobs and things while they last! The service is friendly and the place was rammed out with a slightly more mature crowd. Beer; usual tap stuff with 8 real ales on handpull. These inclue the three BCA regulars; Fireside (which was very good), Pig on the Wall MILD (about to go on) and BFG. The guests that i managed to note were Piddle's Yogi Beer, MHB Nightingale, Pot Belly Yellow Belly and Aisling and Falstaff Little Voice. Back to class. Back to being a must do. I could sit in here all day. If this pub closes again, close Walsall.

The pub has been taken over by the ex-gaffer of the Royal Exchange in Bloxwich. The number of real ales - including Highgate MILD had increased to the six or so that it used to have. There is now a TV in the bar. Service remains good - indeed, had a good chat to the gaffer. Back to being a must do place in Walsall.