The Shakespeare, Birmingham

Shakespeare Inn page at the Nicholsons site - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

A terraced town centre pub, slightly garish in yellow, with etched windows and a small patio area. The interior is an open plan room, though with two destinct areas with the serving bar to the right on entry. The decor is a mix of peach, yellow, white upper wall and ceiling, as well as some lovely green and white tiling. There were old photos of Brum on the walls. The place does food, but we didn't eat. There was a TV, with some programme on and the background music was general and a decent level. The service was friendly and the clientele a general mix and it was busy enough. Beer; tap stuff with two nadpulls in immediate view, which were Everards Sunchaser and as good a Jennings Cumberland Ale that you will get. However, as the bar ias actually curved i found that there were two other handpulls, with Black Sheep Bitter and an excellent Timothy Taylor Golden Best on. A pub i had not been into for at least 5 years, but one i wish i had. A definate success story on this latest visit and i will return more often now.

One of 3 pubs in town to bear the Bard’s name, this is a smallish traditional style pub with an attractive exterior and 2 sectioned layout within. The front main bar has bare floors, a couple of subtitled TV’s and games/fruit machines. The rear section is carpeted with a further TV and some quite tacky Vegas style lighting. A staircase leads off to one side although I believe this is merely for the loos. There are also a few street tables out the front when weather allows Despite obvious modern touches, there are a few original features by way of a quite grand fireplace, patterned windows, and remnants of old tiling and there are a few old photos of Brum on display although the emphasis is much reduced by the presence of multiple cheap drink promotion posters. The ale choice was OK but not particularly interesting with Abbott, Landlord and Adnams being the options on my visit and it took some considerable time to get served given that it wasn’t even particularly busy. It is an OK pub for a couple of pints without being anything exceptional and probably fine as part of a crawl but not anything of sufficient substance to warrant a lengthy session.

It was the first non smoking pub in City Centre BEFORE JDW came along. Not far from New Street station. Timothy Taylor is permament resident ale. You will be lucky to find table to eat as it gets packed between lunchtime and late evening. Huge mirror on rear of the room. Can be bit cramped on rush hour time. Nice pub, shame about the size.

Nice Pub. Had some good times in the pub next door(Temple Bar) now a shoe shop, shame.