The Garden House, Birmingham

A large and rambling Chef & Brewer establishment, seemingly running through a row of houses joined together. Fairly standard semi rustic/historic interior and largely given over to dining, although there is a tolerable section used more by drinkers near the bar, also a tabled garden at the rear. Only Greene King beers nowadays, with Abbot and Old Speckled Hen on with IPA and Yardbird 'coming soon' but condition was good.

Substantial Chef & Brewer pub / restaurant in a terrace of old (but not obviously impressive) buildings on the main Hagley Road. Once inside, you find the expected semi-traditional furniture and decor in the various seating and (mostly) dining areas on three sides of the bar counter. It has previously had something of a reputation for having a better real ale offering than one might anticipate, but certainly not on my visit. However, that said, my pint of Greene King IPA (£4.35) - the only cask beer available from the four handpumps - was in very good shape .

As Soupy says a better choice of ales than I expected. Decent enough place with friendly staff. The beer was fine and I would pop in again if passing.

This is a detached Chef & Brewer pub and eatery, with patio and beer garden areas. It is, in fact, three properties knocked through, which date to the early-mid 19th century, when this part of Edgbaston was a plush suburb. The exterior is in white, with what looked like lime green sash window surrounds and a black moulded cornice, and a neo-classic entrance. There are several bay windows on the lower floor. The interior is really a massive open plan area broken into partioned areas. Mostly, this is given over to foody area, but off to the left there is a more 'drinking' area. The decor is one of coffee, wood, white, with a bit of brick. There are a number of fireplaces befitting the history. The seating is very mixed, even a bench seat was found lurking in a corner (where i immediately ensconced myself). The walls had a mix of historical and tasteful artish photographs on them (something i thin C&B do well at). I didn't see a TV and the music was general and at a decent level. The service was fine and what i thought was a 'suity' clientele actually transpired to be a far more mixed one. Beer; usual tap stuff with Peroni. On handpull there were Purity UBU, Doombar, Wye Vally HPA and a pretty decent Backyard Hoard - a far better choice and quality than i expected. A place i expected to dislike, being a traditionalist, but i found myself a far happier customer than that. Happy i popped in.