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Pub Of The Month - 2024 with Mobyduck
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Detail Pages
Bacchus Bar, Birmingham
Birmingham
B2 4JH
Pub Type
Nicholsons (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about Bacchus Bar
Simply bonkers pub - hidden in the depths below the Burlington Arcade. I have lived near BRM all my life but didnt know this was here until I read the top 10 pubs in Birmingham.
The photo on this site sums it up - leave behind SportsDirect and TK Maxx and pretend you are in 2000 years ago in Rome and having a pint.
Good choice of beers - I had a Korev Lager - first time i have seen it outside the South West.
A must visit.
On 19th December 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1345 recommendations about 1331 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Bacchus Bar
27/06/2014: A refurb here has changed some of the seating areas around whilst keeping the OTT decor. More beer pumps now as well means its getting even better!
24/06/2010: Very OTT decor, they have gone to great effort though its a modern pub and therefore all fake, but its well worth a look and a drink, especially if its not a busy time. Real mish-mash of designs, Greek, Roman, Olde English etc. It is a cellar bar between New Street and Stephenson Street, underneath the old Midland railway hotel near to the current 2nd entrance to New Street Station.
Its part of M&Bs Nicholson's chain and as such is looking to promote real ale, though you don't get the choice here that you do in their London pubs - 3 real ales and on my visit two were out, though it appeared they were trying to sort it out, there was a notice saying sorry, they are so popular they have run out.
Seems a decent menu and (obviously) wine choice and fair value for the City Centre.
For me it gets an 8 for the decor, being so unique, and if they could just improve on the real ales it would be higher
On 8th July 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Bacchus Bar
This Nicholsons pub is worth a visit for its interesting interior. There were four handpumps on the bar, I for the Nicholsons IPA which was fine. Lots of people dining here on our visit.
On 27th July 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roy Collins left this review about Bacchus Bar
There were two ales on offer and the Rev James was only average quality , but well worth a visit just to see the wonderful over the top decor.
On 16th November 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 124 recommendations about 121 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Bacchus Bar
Called in to see what was on for the recent IPA festival, and was a little disappointed with the ale choice, but the Hopdaemon Incubus was in good condition. It is like entrering a baronial hall with the decor, but I enjoyed wandering around. Don't think I would enjoy it if it was busy though.
On 30th August 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about Bacchus Bar
A Nicholson's cellar pub/eatery accessed via the Burlington Arcade. This was once the bar of the Midland Hotel, which faced the frontage of New St Station. The Hotel was made famous as it was the venue of Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech in 1968.
Go down the stairs and you find youself on the set of all the MGM historical epics of the 1950. A long room, lined avenue like with tables, leads you towards the bar. The decor here is Gothic, with suits of armour, fake tombs - it is so naff, it is brilliant. Turn right and you move into a side room in Egyptian style, where i am sure Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were arguing (or was it making up) in the corner. If you turn to the right you have the bar facing you, but there are other areas - Romanesque arches, library, stocked with high backed mock-medieval chairs and candles to see by . The service was fine, the clientele mixed and it was busy.
Beer; tap stuff with a so-so Nethergate Priory MILD and Hook Norton Haymaker on handpull, along with the untried Pedigree and Greene King St Edmunds.
All in all it is very different and is worth a visit just to see it, but the beer seems to need some attention.
On 13th September 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Owen O'Neill left this review about Bacchus Bar
Because of the layout it only takes a smallish number of people in there to get to the point where you can't get a table.
Super place to start a night out, if only for the decor. (which is well worth just dropping in for on it's own just to have a swift half and admire)
On 11th July 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 11 recommendations about 11 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Bacchus Bar
Very ornate cellar bar under the MacDonald Burlington hotel. If you like churchlike interiors with a medieval theme alongside suits of armour, tombs of old warriors, alcoves and subdued lighting, then this is the place for you. It’s pretty impressive really. It has two banks of three handpumps doubling up with Pedigree, Bombardier and Everards Sly Fox on the bar. Over two visits the other week (I was at a meeting at the hotel above) I had a pint of the Sly Fox which was only OK and a pint of the Bombardier which was pretty good. It is a little expensive at £3 a pint but someone has to pay for the decor. Slightly surprisingly it has a quiz machine, which is a little out of place. I didn’t know they had those back in the dark ages. It’s an OK place to go if you’re after a bit of private conversation in smart surroundings.
On 25th April 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]