The Prince of Wales, Wednesbury

Another decent Holden's pub. Bitter and Golden Glow on when I visited. The Glow had just gone so I went for the Bitter and it was fine.

This is what looks like an old coaching inn on the road from Walsall to Moxley. Inside there is a public bar to the right and a saloon bar on the left. I could see across the serving area to the public bar that there were people actually playing darts on a Saturday afternoon so I assume it must be a fairly serious darts pub. The saloon bar is long and narrow with a small stage and speaker at the end which I assume is for the advertised karaoke. The whole of the rear section of the pub including the far end of the saloon bar was undergoing renovation so they may be trying to change the profile of the pub. Beers available were Holden's Mild, Bitter and Golden Glow. I went for the Bitter (£2.40) which was in very good nick. It's hard to know what rating to give this place due to the renovations but I'll have a stab at a seven.

A nice detached cream rendered cottage styled Holdens pub with black paintwork. A central entrance is flanked by bay windows and there is a side passasge for horse traffic of old. There is a small beer patio. The interior has two rooms, served from a central bar, along with a pool table in a conservatory area. The small bar is to the left on entry and the even smaller lounge to the right. The bar is in cooffee and chocolate wood panel walls, white ceiling and green carpet. The odd mirror breaks up the bareness of the walls. There is a TV here, showing some daytime stuff at my visit and a dart board. There were about 8 people in this room, so we had to go in the lounge as there was nowhere to sit! The lounge is in coffee walls, with white ceiling and other paintwork, with a green patterned carpet. It has a fireplace with a stove fire with a couple of models on - a cat musketeer! There was no music at my visit. There are no pictures, just a mirror and it has green seats - nobody was in here. The service was fine, as ever and clientele mixed. Beer; usual tap stuff, with Holdens Bitter, MILD and another handpull (clip had come off). The MILD was supurb and just £2. Improved a lot since my last visit - mainly as you can now get a class MILD for £2, but it has had a spruce-up. A must for me now, though not much room inside.