The Boars Head, Kidderminster

One time (early 2000s) best pub in Kidderminster. It's had a bit of chequered history since then, closing, reopening and several landlords. Found myself in Kidderminster and saw a google review saying it had been retaken over again, along with some high praise. All the ingredients that made it a success nearly 20 years ago are still there. It made for live music, with a large area for bands and two front bars. Quirky, band related, decoration as described below. Its had a bit of a tidy up as well and the new landlord has seemingly bought a few old regulars here - an eclectic mixture of patrons, but importantly, busy for a Monday night. Beer wise, the Wainwright Ale was in perfect condition and a Monday Madness promotion meant is was a bargain £1.99. I wish them every success.

I popped into this pub late on a Friday night as it seemed to be the only place in town where I might be able to enjoy some late live music, given that the pub seems to be the town’s premier rock music venue. The pub has a traditional two bar set up with a porch lined with loads of old LP’s leading left into a fairly small room with no ale on the bar and limited seating around the perimeter due to the pool table that filled up most of the space. Walls have, appropriately enough, been decorated with lots of pictures of old bands and there were battered old instruments dotted around the place. The right hand door from the porch leads into the main bar which has a mix of board and tile flooring and a fairly non-descript servery to the left. Seating is again fairly limited, with benches under the front window opposite a brick fireplace and a few other options along the right hand wall. There is a large mirror above the fireplace, topped with signed cymbals and a shelf above the bar holds numerous acoustic guitars, drum pedals and a trombone. In addition to this, I spotted a bass drum flanked by trumpets on a high shelf in one corner of the room and the walls and mirrors throughout the room are liberally plastered with gig posters. Beyond the bar, the walls have port holes on them and a selection of contemporary art works, old drums and keyboards. A door to the rear leads to a pleasant courtyard, partly covered, which looked like it could be a great spot in warmer weather. Unfortunately there didn’t appear to be any live music scheduled on the day I visited, but there was a fantastic soundtrack playing through the pub, which I thoroughly enjoyed whilst supping my final pint of the day. A local I met in another pub earlier in the day had warned me that the beer here was often quite poorly kept, so things didn’t look up when I found five unused handpulls between the two bars, with just Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold available. I decided to brave a pint and was very glad I did, as it was immaculately kept and the pint slipped down very easily. Whether this was by luck or design I could not say. This place is obviously a bit niche and won’t appeal to all, but I quite liked the shabby look, the interesting musical bits, the eccentric landlord and the great soundtrack. I think you probably need to be in the right frame of mind to visit a specialist music pub like this, but I was pretty impressed with what I saw and wouldn’t mind visiting again.