The Fellows, Dudley

The friends we were with brought us to this Holdens pub for a bite to eat, and it is in the 2014 Good Beer Guide. I thought being Christmas there may have been a seasonal at least, but there was only their Bitter, Special and Golden Glow on. We had the Golden Glow and Special, both of which were excellent, as was the food available. The steak bagette was really good value for money with the chunky chips.

Mid 1800’s Grade II listed former upper class gentlemen’s social club with castellated features and an interesting glazed gallery in the one corner of the first floor overlooking the car park towards Dudley Castle, the premises have been refurbished and reopened by the Holdens brewery just a couple of years ago. If you consider the front of the building to be the long right hand side as viewed from the street then the contemporary interior has two areas on the ground floor, a large public bar on the left and a small dining area on the right, there is also a larger restaurant area on the first floor which can be hired for events. The public bar entrance is in the front left corner of the building this reveals a dark wood bar counter across the back wall with a lovely old Victorian cast fire place with black painted wood mantle in the right wall, a modern wood floor, couple of wide brick pillars in the middle of the room, hand full of dark brown leather arm chairs dotted around and a large flat screen TV in the middle of the front wall. On the right of the bar, next to the fire place is a narrow opening through to the small dining area, but I only popped my head in to glimpse several standard four seater tables arranged next to modern fixed brown fabric bench seating against the walls and normal dining chairs. The walls and previously mentioned pillars are brick and half wood tongue and groove painted white. Regular ales are Holdens Bitter, Mild, Special and Golden Glow with no guest beers as far as I can tell from a couple of visits. I asked for a Mild but it had run out so I had a Glow which was good. Full selection of Holdens standard range but no changing guests is a bit disappointing from a brewery that normally supports local micro-breweries. A slightly more modern interior than I normally feel entirely comfortable having a drink in, but it has been refurbished in a fairly sympathetic manner by today’s standards, thankfully no horrible fairy lights or crap vases full of twigs. The public bar is a fair size and sparsely furnished with a plain decor which means it feels a bit clinical and lacking character, I imagine it feels better when there are more people in. I like Holdens beers so I would return for a pint but it’s not one of their better pubs or the first place in Dudley that I would consider for a drink.

A large detached and almost country house place, complete with crenelations. It is in white render and now a part of the Holdens Brewery chain. It has been a private members club and a Beefeater in the past, so little surprise that this is in fact a pub and grill. There is a beer garden/patio area. The interior is on a couple of floors with an extended dining area on the floor above. The ground floor, the bar/dining area is a general U-shape with part partitions around. The decor is a pastle green and white, with white ceiling and painted beams - the walls i think are similar upstairs. The floor is laminate wood. It is open plan, and supported by brick piers. There are some old photos on the walls, but it looked a little bare and there were pictures of Dudley Zoo upstairs. The service was functional and there were few in on our Sunday visit. We ate here and the food seemed decent enough. A TV was on, with the news and the music was general and an ok level. Beer; tap stuff with the Holden's range, so that would be Bitter, Golden Glow and Special, as the MILD seemed not to be on. The Glow was fine of course. There was also a guest in the shape of Nottinghamshire Brewery's Extra Pale Ale. It seems completely out of kilter with other Holden's pubs, so one-up for those that like a more crisp look. I will go back because it sells Holdens, though i will be disappointed if the MILD has gone for good.