The Crown, Wolverhampton

Unbranded food-led pub, although the beer selection suggests Marston's. The partly opened-out, multi-room interior has been refurbished in a light, if rather corporate, semi-traditional style. The six handpumps on the two counters, on what turns out to be an island bar, were offering a duplicated selection of Banks's Mild (£2.60) and Amber, Marston's Sunbeam, Wainwright, Hobgoblin Gold and Owd Rodger.

Official site of The Crown - www.crownpubwolverhampton.co.uk

Official site of The Crown - www.crownpubwolverhampton.co.uk

A large high street pub in the centre of the town, with a reasonable car park and a mock Tudor façade. Inside there are three separate bar/eating areas, the front one of which has a pool table, while the others are more comfortable. Food was very good value, and there were six ales on draft: I had pints of Castlerock’s Red Riding Hood and Slater’s Peaky Blinder, both in perfect condition. The barman was knowledgeable and welcoming, he was happy to provide tasters before we bought and it was all very convivial. They host live music acts, but nothing was playing during this visit. The atmosphere was calm, the clientele were civilised. Worth a revisit for its superb ales.

A large detached Marston's pub/eatery, which is mainly in undressed brick, although there is some white render and use of wood. There are some interesting architectural features, such as the chimney stacks and the core of the building structure clearly is older than the rather general style of these kind of pubs. There is a patio as well. The interior is the general open plan interior for this kind of pub, around a central bar. It is laid out of course for food and has the common enough decor of green, yellow and white walls, with some wood panel and paisley wallpaper. There are some 19th century style prints on the walls and a couple of brick fireplaces for some interest. The service was fine, the clientele small and the TV wasn't on at my visit. Beer; tap stuff with Wychwood Hobgoblin, Banks's Bitter and a decent enough MILD. The exterior has some nice feature while the interior is generic for this kind of pub/eatery. If you like this kind of thing, it seemed fine enough to me.