Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Halifax Crawl - 21 June 2024 with sheffield hatter
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Beacon Hotel, Dudley
Sedgley
Postal town: Dudley
DY3 1JE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 9 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ale Monster left this review about The Beacon Hotel
Any ale drinkers in the Black Country (and many beyond) know of the Beacon Hotel as it is a great local icon. It is a lovely traditional Victorian pub with a three storey tower brewery behind which produces the very fine Sarah Hughes range of beers. The pub was built around 1865 and it has four various sized rooms leading off a central hallway with terracotta tiled floor and stairs to the first floor. On the left at the front of the pub there is a small snug which has a coal fire on the left with large mirror above and a piano next to the door. opposite on the right of the hallway, there is a second small snug which has a cast iron stove type fireplace on the right, at the back left of the hallway is a larger and slightly more plush lounge, which has red leather bench seats, two cast iron coal fire places and lots of wood panelling. Finally at the back of the hallway is a stone floored room with wooden bench seats, this appears to have once been an outside area that has been covered over and enclosed. There is a very tiny bar which is in the centre of the pub and serves the hallway and the two rooms on the left of the building through small hatches with lots of leaded windows. On the left of the lounge is a conservatory which is full of large plants. The décor throughout is very traditional to the point that you could be forgiven for thinking that you have stepped back in time!
Regular ales are the famous Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild, Pale Amber and Sedgley Surprise with normally two guest beers which on this visit were Hobson’s Town Crier and Twisted Spire. The beer is very well kept, as you would expect from a brewery tap house (GBG 2011). Be warned that the Mild is brewed to a Victorian recipe, therefore it is a rather warming 6%.
This is a superb pub and it’s no secret as its won West Midlands pub of the year many times including the last three years in a row and was a runner up in the national competition this year so it does get very busy most evenings. The place is so popular that I have seen people queuing out the front door, waiting to get served at the tiny bar in the hallway. Note that as mentioned in previous reviews the pub shuts between 3 and 6 every day. A local landmark institution which I would definitely recommend visiting, I truly can’t find fault with the place, so I will be returning shortly.
On 21st July 2011
- rating: 10
[User has posted 199 recommendations about 199 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Beacon Hotel
Idiosyncratic home brew pub, it uses only handled glasses (dimpled jugs) which are served from a wooden phone box like kiosk with serving hatches at both sides. There are numerous small spaces making up the first bar you enter but I liked the larger Smoke Room to the left, the Camra types cluster in the entry corridor near the serving hatch. The Smoke room, like most of the pub is decorated and furnished in traditional style (benches and Britannia tables). The Sarah Hughes beers are excellent and the pub also sells Sam Smiths in bottle, it is a bit hard to see what else might be available in the “kiosk”. The pub was busy when others I passed were empty or fairly quiet and I can probably guess why.
On 22nd June 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Andy Ven left this review about The Beacon Hotel
Fairly anonymous exterior but a charming time piece inside. We stood outside and breathed in the smell from the brew house at he back while we waited outside with the other eager punters for it to open at midday.
Dark Ruby (6%), Surprise (5%) and Amber (4%) plus 1 guest ale of Dickie Bird. My slight disappointment was the paleness of both the Surprise and Amber which left a gap in the home made offerings between these two and the Dark Ruby.
The photos show its quirky layout of 4 rooms set around one of the smallest bar areas - just a serving hatch really. By 12.30 there were two dozen people in this place despite it being situated outside of the town centre. Given its popularity it struck me as odd, then, that it closes during the afternoon. For us this meant that we had to start here and move on, rather than being able to drop in part way through a crawl around this real-ale hotspot. You must visit though.
Advertised opening hours: Mon-Fri 12.00-2.30 and 5.30-11.00; Sat 12.00-3.00 and 6.00-11.00; Sun 12.00-3.00 and 7.00-10.30
On 23rd April 2010
- rating: 10
[User has posted 244 recommendations about 240 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about The Beacon Hotel
A large detached pub and home to the Sarah Hughes Brewery, in brick and white render, with a conservatory.
The interior has a nesting of rooms. Two lounges spring either side of the entrance, the one in 1940s style wallpaper, the other in white. At the back there is a larger bar area, in white and wood panel and, i believe, from my last visit, a room where you can take children. The service is via hatches in an old wood bar, so it is like asking for a ticket at an old railway station and it is difficult to see, from the lounge, what beer is actually on (there is a chalk board). Service is difficult to rate as all you see is a pair of hands, but the clientele is mixed and it was busy, hence we didnt explore just plonked ourselves in the first seat we saw.
Beer; hard to tell - there was the Sarah Hughes range; MILD, Amber and Surprise, with Snowflake as a seasonal. The MILD was nice. There were also a few guests; Oakhams White Dwarf and Acorn Barnsley Gold were spotted.
I would go back of course, but i preferred other pubs on the tour that i made
On 23rd January 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Anonymous User left this review about The Beacon Hotel
This is a superb pub and goes to show that well-run pubs will overcome the present difficulties.
On 13th April 2009
- rating: 10
[User has posted 0 recommendations about 0 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Horton left this review about The Beacon Hotel
Home of Sarah Hughes Brewery. Superb real ale served from a small bar. Not particularly well furnished though it is comfortable. Car park on Sedgley side of pub. Also see write up in CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
On 14th July 2008
- rating: 8
[User has posted 148 recommendations about 148 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Beacon Hotel
The Beacon looks small from the outside but once inside it goes back quite away.
On my visit the pub was packed at about 2.45.on a saturday dinner it was hard work getting through the narrow area to the main drinking area and once there i could'nt tell what beers were on the bar so i asked for a decent drink and ended up with a beer called Sedgley Surprise this was very nice.
There may have been other beers on here but it was to busy and i could'nt see what was on the bar,then to my surprise they called last orders at 2.50 when the pub was very busy i did'nt understand why ?.
I would have probably enjoyed my visit to this pub if it was a bit quieter and i had longer to have a drink before being chucked out.
Pub visited 17/5/2008
On 17th May 2008
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]