The Railway Bell, Kidderminster

Handily located just over the road from Kidderminster station, the Railway Bell is an imposing looking Victorian pub and former hotel, now operated by Marstons. You enter into the main bar - a spacious front room with modern floorboards and a nice patterned tile area around the servery, which runs along the back wall. These patterned tiles also appear on the front of the bar counter, alongside some nice green glazed tiles, whilst further examples of period tiling can be found on the bar back which also boasts a back-lit stained glass top and impressive etched glass Railway Bell mirror. Sturdy banquette seating runs beneath the front windows and to the right, with chairs and stools filling up the rest of the room. A space has been set aside to the rear right for a darts area whilst over to the left there is a nice little fireplace with pictures of the brewing process above and a sparsely filled bookcase to one side. The room has a high ceiling with red anglypta covering and some very swish modern light fittings that work quite well in the context of the pub's overall look. TV screens at either end of the room were showing live football with the sound clearly audible. A door to the left leads out to a beer garden which I didn't bother to explore and I'm told there is another room with a pool table somewhere, but I can't say I noticed any sign of a second room. I visited this pub because I had a 45 minute wait for my train and arriving just before the place opened, I found myself stood outside with two real characters, who may or may not be representative of the pub's clientele. On opening, I found all four handpulls had reversed pump clips, with nothing ready to be pulled through, so I ended up with a Guinness for £3.20, which didn't really hit the spot. Being a Marstons pub, beers from their portfolio can be expected and I noticed Pedigree, Wychwood Hobgoblin and something from Banks's were among the clips that had been turned. I'm prepared to accept that I got unlucky on the beer front, although it also implies that they ran out of ale at some point during their Saturday evening service, which doesn't seem to bode well. The pub looks like it's pretty well kept and is in a striking Victorian building but far better options can be found nearby or down the hill in the town centre.

Official site of The Railway Bell - therailwaybell.webs.com

Official site of The Railway Bell - therailwaybell.webs.com

The first pub you see when leaving Kidderminster railway station, with a bold façade which catches the eye. Once inside, you find a basic main bar with limited furniture and dominant sports TVs. There also appears to be a small lounge located up five steps to the rear (not visited). Beer-wise, it seems to be an unbranded Marstons pub, and for such an apparently basic boozer I was surprised to see three of the four handpumps and offering Banks's Bitter, Elbow's Charge and Golden Dale from the Corvedale micro-brewery (£1.40 for a half) as a guest. The locals and barman were friendly enough, too.