The Crown Joules, Wolverhampton

Large nicely refurbished if a little forced in trying include a bit of everything. Given the choice and quality of the beer that's a minor quibble and a matter of taste; it is rightly popular. Pretty busy and buzzing along on an early Saturday evening visit. Wolverhampton Camra's country pub of the year.

Now owned by Joules, and there's some evidence that the name of the pub has changed to The Crown Joules, which, like all puns, loses its charm with repetition. The pub itself, despite having been opened out into one large room surrounding the central bar, is rather attractive, with some interesting features such as the window glass, which may be original – or then again, may be not. The pub was certainly vibrant on our early evening visit towards the end of a lengthy pub crawl and some of the locals engaged me in conversation when they saw me taking photos of pump clips. They decided this was interesting rather than sad, so I was happy to chat with them for a few minutes, and hoped that they would join us on Pubs Galore! There's a vast range of Joules beers on offer, which I know are not everyone's cup of tea, but they suit me and I was very happy with my Slumbering Monk. For those otherwise disposed there are also quite a few guests (see photos).