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Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
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The Britannia, Dudley
Dudley
DY3 1UX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Britannia Inn
Batham's pub. Three rooms aside from the small bar area to the left as you enter – a cosy red lounge with a fire off right, a posh Edwardian-style green coloured side room and a dull parlour. Just the Bitter on and, whilst decent, was well-below the quality I know this can be (NBSS 3) which seems quite peculiar given the proximity of the Jolly Crispin; you’d assume there’d be high standards here because of it but instead it felt like they’d given up trying to compete. Friendly barmaid and locals helped make up for the deficiencies a little, though it was noticeably quieter than some of the nearby pubs we did that evening. Cobs available. Worth a look-in if nearby but not a special visit if the cask output on my visit is indicative. Bathams have set high standards in the past, so we all left slightly deflated.
On 31st December 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Britannia Inn
Spotting a Batham's house was enough to make me jump of the bus at the next stop and walk back to have a look. The main bar and seating area at the front were busy late on a Saturday afternoon, with a fine community atmosphere immediately apparent. With no spare seats there, I found a perch in the very comfortable rear lounge (with its renowned wall-mounted pumps and heritage cash register). Also has a basic parlour off to one side for the darts, plus a patio beer garden at the back (but it was hardly the weather for that). Of course, it was only the Delph Brewery Bitter and Mild (£2.35) on tap, but that was exactly what I was after, and the unexpected stop here quite made my day.
On 21st February 2016
- rating: 9
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about Britannia Inn
On the other side of the road and a short stroll down from The Jolly Crispin, is The Britannia Inn, a small Bathams pub, still seemingly better known as Sally’s, named after a legendary long serving former landlady, Sally Perry, who was, apparently at the helm here from 1942 to 1991. Batham’s acquired the pub in 1997.
The small curved bar counter is on the left hand side as you come in and has a Bathams tiled bar back and large mirror. This bar serves a small area in front and a much larger area on the right hand side of the door, which features fixed padded seating, red velour bar stools and walls decorated with old black and white photos of the vicinity. It’s a comfortable, carpeted lounge style area. High up on a wall in one corner is an old style push button TV – the type of set that will probably crop up on The Antiques Roadshow before too very long.
The highlight of the interior is undoubtedly Sally’s Bar, a small room at the back, off the main bar area, which features an old cash register and handpumps, fitted into an old sideboard and mounted into the wall. There’s no actual bar counter as such here, just drip trays. This room has much wood panelling, fixed padded seating and a pleasing lightish green colour scheme which extends to the carpet. There’s a real granny’s living room feel to this room, which is enhanced by plenty old style circular- framed black and white photos, many of which feature Sally herself and other members of her family. An old photo of a charabanc outside the pub full of passengers ( presumably pub customers going on an outing ) particularly caught the eye. This is a charming and delightful room, very much evocative of an earlier era. The pub is listed in CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors because of the surviving original features here. In this room is a serving hatch to the bar servery, but this was not in use on my late September visit. A notice on the wall advised that Sally’s Bar would now open on a Saturday evening, not Friday evening, due to staff shortages. Even when there is no service directly in this room, based on my visit, this is still a popular well patronised room where the friendly locals meet up and put the world to rights, one of whom told me that table service is still offered here when the room is staffed and the wall mounted handpumps are brought into use.
An outside garden at the rear offers additional seating space in good weather. Here also is a disused former brewhouse.
The Britannia Inn is a Batham’s pub offering Bitter and Mild ( £ 2.55p and £ 2.30p respectively on my visit ). The Mild had just run out, but the Bitter was in decent nick. The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular.
It’s a splendid community local and, yes, I know it’s a cliché, but it’s the type of place where you enter as a stranger and leave as a friend, although, like me, you may well struggle at times to understand the Black Country dialect.
This is another Black Country pub well worth making the effort to seek out ( it’s on a main road and bus route ) and, when combined with The Jolly Crispin just up the road, makes a pretty good double header
On 2nd February 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Britannia Inn
This isn't one of the original eight Batham's pubs that I recall from spending an excellent day touring over thirty years ago. The Unicorn at Wollaston became their ninth pub in 1992 after which there were a couple of other changes to their estate, so I can only assume that Batham's acquired this one in the mid nineties. Batham's seem to have a template for many of their houses, an old building with several small rooms and this one is just typical. I missed the garden but did manage to find the completely separate Parlour.
I tried the Batham's Mild (£2.30) and Best (£2.55) both of which were in good condition but somewhat on the warm side. This is the only thing that stops me awarding it a 10.
On 8th September 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Britannia Inn
Very busy on our Friday eve visit, which was expected. We got the No 1 bus up to Upper Gornal and the stop was just at the pub. Have to say the pub did look stunning when lit up in the dark. We didn't have much of a wait getting served in the front bar, in spite of it being mobbed. To my disappointment again no mild on, still the bitter was superb. Managed to have a look round, but it was slow and difficult, even the beer garden was busy. If on a return visit, I will call a lot earlier.
On 10th September 2013
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Britannia Inn
This excellent Bathams pub was the most popular of those we called in yesterday, the garden at the rear was full. It serves both the Best Bitter and Mild, and we were told the mild was on the way out and if it wasn't right she would change it, and she did - no quibble. In the 2012 Good Beer Guide and shouldn't be missed off any tour of the area. Lovely interior.
On 12th August 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
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Ale Monster left this review about Britannia Inn
This is a fantastic traditional pub owned by Batham’s Brewery, the building dates from the 1780’s but it has been used as a pub since the 1830’s and is a former brew house. The interior has three small rooms, a public bar at the front, a snug in the back left of the building and a sports room on the far right. The main entrance leads straight into the public bar which has a tiny bar counter on the left with a Bathams tiled bar back and large mirror, in the right hand wall is a cast iron coal fire place that is often used in the colder months and creates a lovely cosy atmosphere, this has a nice wooden mantle piece and mirror above, there are burgundy bench seats and old local photos on the walls. Opposite the entrance is a doorway which leads to a corridor that runs across the back of the building, immediately on the left is where you will find the snug which is listed on CAMRA’s historic pub interiors web site, this is mainly due to the 1920’s large fitted sideboard on the right hand wall which has four hand pulls built into it, so there is no actual serving counter as such. The snug also has a brick fire place with cast grate, green leather bench seats and old tools mounted on the walls. At the other end of the corridor on the right of the building is a small room with a dart board and an old TV on a high shelf in the corner. The corridor also leads to a nice beer garden behind the pub.
Regular ales are Bathams Bitter and Mild with no changing guests, the quality is always very good as with all Bathams pubs (GBG 2011). The antique hand pulls in the back room are actually used, but only on Friday nights when a member of staff is available.
I love this pub. This is my idea of heaven, consistently great beer served in a very traditional pub with bucket loads of character and a real coal fire. The food is simple, you won’t find anything other than cobs, pork pies and scratchings in here. This is one of those pubs that is definitely worth travelling for, it’s a local gem and there are other excellent pubs nearby.
On 4th April 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 Britannia Inn
Nice Bathams pub, with three rooms a bar at the front with the counter running at an angle, to the right a pleasant sitting area and at the back the Parlour with its wall mounted handpumps. Excellent Bathams Mild and competitively priced too, the usual pork pies are also available. No screens as conversation seems to be the order of the day here. Good beer at a reasonable price, pleasant surroundings, no gimmicks, I can easily understand why people love this pub.
On 22nd June 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3230 recommendations about 2939 pubs]
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Soup Dragon left this review about Britannia Inn
An end terraced pub, rendered and painted in 'yellow' Bathams style, looking like something from 1900, with some nice etched windows. It has a nice rear patio and watch out for the sticky front door!
The interior has two rooms at least. The front room has a small abr and is in white with a nice fireplace. The back room has an open bar (see photo) and is in wood panel. There are all kinds of pictures and memorabilia, such as farm implements and clocks, dotted about. The service was fine, the clientele more the maturer type, and proper Black Country folk. It was silent and calming
Beer; some tap stuff, with the excellent Bathams MILD and bitter (so good it should be called Bathams MILD 2).
Pubs like this are sheer class and i preferred this to the Vine (though the words pick and nit come to mind). In fact, we could have stopped our crawl right here, but there were so many other good places to go, but we did have a few as compensation.
I simply have to come back
On 23rd January 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]
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John Horton left this review about Britannia Inn
All that you would expect from a Batham's house - good beer and basic wholesome grub. Has one very interesting feature - the rear lounge has the beer pumps against the wall not on a bar, infact the room does not have a bar.
On 9th July 2008
- rating: 6
[User has posted 148 recommendations about 148 pubs]