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The Craven Arms, Birmingham
Birmingham
B1 1JG
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Craven Arms
This pub is a little off the beaten track, but still no more than 15 minutes or so from New Street station, so pretty handy and, on my early-evening visit, getting a reasonable crowd. Inside, it's pretty bright (not one of those pubs which keeps the lights down low) but that helps with reading the tasting notes on the pumps. The pumps? Yes - 10 or so, including a cider & a perry, if that's your preference. I should have gone for one of the Black Country Ales, as it's their own pub; particularly as my guest American-style Pale Ale wasn't as good as I'd hoped.
Nevertheless, it's a pub I'd recommend and I'm sure a longer stay would have been well-rewarded.
On 7th October 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about The Craven Arms
UPDATE: finally got back to the Craven after its refurb by the BCA. It remains a tidy Edwardian corner pub, currently detached, in red brick with light and dark blue glazed tiling. I believe it was opened in 1906 by the Holder's Brewery (a name restored to the frontage). The interior curves a little around the bar to make an L-shape room, with green tiled fireplaces at either end. It is in white and red, with patterend carpet and white ceiling, with a nice wood bar and etched glass. Old photos adorn the walls and i didn't see a TV. The service was great and the place busy with a mixed clientele. Beer; usual tap stuff with the three BCA beers - the Pig MILD being excellent. Other handpulls included; Goffs Guinevere, Titanic Rule Britannia, Slater's Citrus, 4T's lLoaded and Keep Calm, as well as a decent East London Quadrant. Another triumph for the BCA chain in my opinion, definitely worth a vist - i could stay here all day.
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Sep 2009: This pub is now open. The extrior is fantastic - ceramic tiles; the inside was clean and the people behind the bar friendly
The interior is open plan, with wooden bar, two tiled fireplaces and a DJ booth. The windows are etched.
Has usual stuff, It looks like they are trying to find their feet a bit, as the Banks's MILD wasnt on and the Banks's bitter pump actually turned out to be Hobgoblin - what a bonus!
Good Luck to them and look forward to going back
On 16th June 2013
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Craven Arms
Enjoyed my first visit to this pub since the refurbishment. It was packed and there was a good buzz. Difficult to get past the bar area as very narrow between the bar and tables, not a lot can be done about that I suppose as folks will tend to crowd the bar. We did get a seat however and there was a good list of the beers available, also foreign bottles in a fridge. We had beers from Black Country Ales and Traditional Scottish Ales, both in great condition, and served by friendly staff who were coping well with the crowded pub. Good luck to them. Great to see a traditional pub doing so well in the city.
On 6th April 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Chris Kilmister left this review about The Craven Arms
Well impressed with this pub, Black Country Inns have done great job refurbishing The Craven Arms.
Had a good pint of Pig On The Wall.
On 28th March 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 12 recommendations about 10 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Craven Arms
A former Marstons house, now refurbished and part of the Black Country Inns chain, who also own the Wellington in the City Centre.
The pub is 30 seconds walk from the 'Hugo Boss' entrance to the Mailbox complex of upmarket bars, restaurants, shops and also apartments and a great contrast. There are other new apartments that have spring up around it. Its not on any main circulation area lying just outside the city centre which means it suffers from no passing trade but is also probably still standing because of it. And its a fine corner local from the outside and the Holders tiling is great.
Martons had let it run down towards the end of 2012 after a copule of years where it seemed to be searching for an identity.
When BCA took it on I really had high hopes for it, but so far, as when you build something up in your mind, it hasn't quite reached that standard of perfect pub I had in my head.
Bad points - for me I actually liked the old red 'leather' seating and the way it was laid out. Now its opened out further into one space mainly seating around large tables, making it fine for groups but a little uncomfortable for one/two people on their own. The landlord & staff tend to take up one of those areas. The seating and carpet are all very old pub type as well (well, it is an old pub I suppose!) making it a little boring. Its extremely well lit as well, not to my personal preference. Also, on the times I have visited, the beer has been too warm, again not to my personal taste & I'm yet to have a brilliant pint, just ok.
Ok, the good points - real fires, 2 of them, very homely especially as we don't have summer any more. There are also 9 hand pumps of real ale, with a good variety of ales. There are card descriptions of the beers as well, helping especially with those you havn't even heard of. They have also started selling foreigners. And, as said, its a lovely building and unpretentious as advised in earlier reviews, and near enough to the City Centre whilst being out of the way to be handy and have a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Its early days and I think I am a little critical as I think this had the potential to be the best pub in Birmingham, so I hope I warm to it and things like the beer condition improve. Or maybe I should make more friends and drink beer too cold these days. But even with my slight negativity its a fine pub and well worth trying for a beer.
Cheese Club on a Monday night.
Its actually the nearest pub to my place of work so I have a vested interest as my local (I'm one of those who thinks the local is the nearest pub to home/work).
On 28th March 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Craven Arms
This is a fine traditional corner boozer, examples of which are rare in the City Centre. At the back of the Mailbox its a great contrast to the bars there. Its had some money spent on it in the last few years & is now a one room bar as below. Still has a traditional feel, and has red 'leather' seats and pictures of old Birmingham. Now playing modern R&B and chart music and not sure if its trying to change its custom base.
However, the standard of beer here is starting to decline. Now just Marstons Pedigree or EPA and the quality is appalling - though its from a hand pump it tastes very much like keg and its very cold to hide any taste. Hopefully this is not a sign this fine pub is on the decline.
On 28th March 2013
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Craven Arms
Occupying a street corner position close to The Mailbox and The Cube – an area of Birmingham’s city centre that has seen much redevelopment in recent years – is The Craven Arms
An attractive looking exterior features tiling, etched windows bearing the pub name and an entrance on the street corner. Note the fine decorative ceramic moulded tiling high up advertising Holders Ales and Stout – a long gone local brewery that was acquired by Mitchells and Butlers in 1919 and closed in 1923. From the outside it’s the archetypal street corner local – the type of unpretentious pub that is sadly disappearing from our city centres in the so called name of progress. We see that the pub was established in 1838.
Inside, we find a single L shaped bar with much brass fittings, some small Art Nouveau coloured windows and a traditional wooden bar counter and decorative bar back. Banquettes around the edges contribute to the comfortable, traditional feel, which, I have to say, was rather marred by the loud music ( there’s a DVD juke box ) and several games machines.
On my recent early November evening visit, despite it being a Monday, the pub was perhaps busier than might have been expected, with a younger customer base clearly attracted to the video juke box. Several groups of customers had clearly been in the pub for some considerable time. I found the atmosphere slightly edgy, although in fairness I ought to mention that a lone drinker in the corner openly wearing a red striped Southampton F C shirt ( obviously going to the game at West Brom later that evening ) did not attract any hostility or unwelcome attention.
Although it’s not badged externally as such, it would appear to be a Marstons / Banks pub. There’s 3 pumps – two had pump clips reversed and the third pump, advertising Marstons EPA, gave up the ghost well short of a half pint.
A certain air of disinterest from the staff might perhaps be explained by the existence of a Fleurets Estate Agents board high up on an outside wall. The pub is presumably either an “underperforming retail unit” or an “exciting investment opportunity” depending on which department of the PubCo you speak to.
Based on my visit, this is certainly not a pub worth seeking out
On 13th November 2012
- rating: 4
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
General Staal left this review about The Craven Arms
A Victorian gem of a pub. A 'real' pub, compared to the overpriced bars in the Mailbox.
Lovely Victorian tiling inside and out. Only saw one smallish room at the front.
Affordable bar food on offer, although I didn't try it.
Two real ales on when I went in, Hobgoblin and Cocker Hoop. I had the Cocker Hoop which was very welcome on a hot day.
I liked this place and recommended it to my friends who also liked it.
On 1st August 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 142 recommendations about 125 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Craven Arms
Fine little corner pub with a magnificent blue tiled exterior and a good looking cornerstone above one door. Inside is full of red leather settles and dining tables and chairs. The settles have small mirrors set in the back of them for the vain types. The neat wooden bar has mirrors at the back and some interesting lights above it. There are two green tiled fireplaces and a DJ rig in one corner. The windows are nicely done and are engraved with the name of the pub. There are three handpumps but only two were on, these were selling Pedigree and Hobgoblin. I tried a pint of the Hobgoblin which was fine. The menu on the table had some fairly standard pub grub on it but at very competitive prices e.g. Steak Pie, Chips & Peas for £3.95, I didn’t try any though. It’s a neat little pub and a far cry from the plastic bars in the Mailbox just along the road.
On 27th April 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Craven Arms
Can't rate it as I took photo as I passed it. Have been before albeit a few years ago, and it was a friendly pub selling Banks beers then.
On 12th April 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]