Post Office Vaults, Birmingham

Not mentioned in the previous reviews is the fact that on the tables is a rather impressive Belgian beer menu, including the limited edition dry hopped Duvel (£9 a bottle, mind you!)

As pointed out in previous reviews a slightly ackward to find cellar bar , to me it had a slight 70s feel to the decor , plenty of beer available and the staff were friendly and knowlegable , my pint of Froth Blowers Midland Red was spot on . A note for any ladies drinking here , you need a code to gain access to the toilets .

This is a cellar bar which it has been suggested is under the same ownership as the Wellington nearby. I rather doubt this as the Wellington is a Black Country Ales house that sells at least three of their beers whereas this place is not listed on their site and didn't have any of their beers on when I visited. It came as a relief to visit here after the Briar Rose which was rammed with raucous students and other assorted idiots. On a Saturday evening this place was busy but not impossibly so. It was too busy to note all the beers but I did see Salopian, Hobson's and XT represented. I went for a RAT beer called Rat In The Kitchen (£3.40) which was a superb last pint of the day before getting the train back to London. The Wellington is bigger and has more beers but I thought this place was almost as good.

I liked this place. A quite decent selection of beers and as others have said easy to miss.

Cellar bar with 2 entrances. 8 real ales.

Hard-to-locate subterranean bar with the inevitable faint smell of damp accompanying it. Owned by the same people who have the Welly, the ethos is the same – a plethora of ales at the bar (8) from far and wide, plus some ciders. My Hobsons Mild was in good shape. There’s also a vast amount of foreign bottles with a thick, descriptive menu at the table. Encouragingly there was a bar billiards table but discouragingly one whole side was up against the wall so it’s not really usable for a serious game unless you’re allowed to pull it out? No daylight and muted lighting means it’s dangerously easily to doze off after a couple! Cream and red décor, with hops hanging from ceiling, some hung foreign beer signs and a bottle collection snaking round the high shelf. Like the Wellington, no music or TV. Also like the Welly you can bring your own food. WiFi can be leeched off Greggs next door. A great addition to the town centre but it lacks a little something to match its sister pub.

A cellar bar, more apparently so if entering from the single narrow door way and staircase in New Street rather than the wider frontage in Pinfold Street where I was greeted with a faint whiff of toilet cleaner. It's a long thin place opening out a bit at one end with the counter in the middle to one side. There is a lot of cider and bottles plus 8 handpumps of cask beers from micros. Decor is from bottles and hop flowers, some European enamel beer advertising signs and old photos of Birmingham. There is a bar billiards table tucked against the wall by the stairs which might make an interesting game, the rules hang on the wall above but there is no backboard. Clientèle was a mix of yoghurt knitters presumably attracted by the cider, some middle aged beer geeks, a group of suits and a few normal people. The ciders and bottled beers but not the draught beers are listed on blackboards. My beer was fine in all respects so I wouldn't argue with its GBG2013 listing.

Passing the door on New Street about five times before finding the entrance felt it was well worth the visit after finding a very good selection of real ale on the bar along with ciders and keg beers. It was early evening and quite full but pleasent. Will be looking for this bar again when in Birmingham.