The Post House, Kidderminster

Official site of The Post House - theposthousebydavenports.co.uk

Official site of The Post House - theposthousebydavenports.co.uk

The Red man has been refurbished and is now a Davenports pub. It has been renamed The Post House.

Located just inside Kidderminster ring road, the Red Man is a large modernised bar and live music venue with a number of clearly defined separate areas. The front section of the pub has a small lounge-style area over to the left with some nice comfy looking seating arranged in the space before the bar appears. The servery runs from here parallel to the front wall before turning 90 degrees and heading towards the rear of the main room. It boasts a modest tongue and groove counter and run of the mill dark wood bar back and much of the space around it has been left unfurnished, allowing for plenty of standing room which I imagine is useful on busy music nights, the full run down of which could be gleaned from an 'Upcoming Events' board on the right hand wall. The room opens out to the right into a remarkably bland area with striped wallpaper which was being used by the evening's musical entertainment - a bunch of middle aged men playing Dad-rock cover versions to a pub full of disinterested customers. Beyond the bar, a spacious carpeted area can be found with a couple of lounge chairs and some high tables and stools in front of an open window that looks down into the live music area. A huge clock on one wall provided a bit of visual stimulation, but otherwise it was all a rather drab, thanks mainly to the fact it has been painted in an unimaginably dull shade of grey. Further back there is a dark, bare boarded space with standard seating and a TV showing live football with the commentary fighting against the live music. One final room can be found to the rear left in what appears to be another lounge of sorts, but this time with a loud music soundtrack which was battling against the football commentary and the band - all very cacophonous. There is a large patio garden to the rear but I didn't get a particularly good look at it in the dark. There are four handpulls on the bar but they'd only managed to get two operational on a Friday night, leaving a choice between Wye Valley Butty Bach and Sharps Atlantic. Wye Valley HPA had recently gone off whilst the fourth pump remained unclipped. A disinterested barmaid served up a passable drop of the Butty Bach which I enjoyed whilst watching the football. This place strikes me as a pretty good venue in which to put on some decent local music but it's so lacking in character thanks to the drab grey colour scheme, standard lounge furniture and lack of decor that much of that promise falls away. I enjoyed the pub as a brief calling point on a crawl around town but it remains a fairly unmemorable experience and one I'm unlikely to repeat.

Newly refurbished large open plan pub with enclosed beer garden. This well run pub serves four ales and serves food all day. I went for the Wye Valley HPA.