In praise of…The Wellington
Our recent BeerCast guide to Edinburgh pubs unearthed a few drinking gems in our home city, but a couple of days ago in Birmingham I found one that might top them all. In the Midlands for a few days, I’d perused the Good Beer Guide to check out any suitable alehouses beforehand, and very quickly identified one to chance my drinking arm. The Wellington in Bennett’s Hill is the reigning (and two-time) CAMRA Birmingham pub of the year. But what makes it so special? The intrepidly investigative BeerCast just had to find out.
The exterior looks oddly like a white-fronted office building, but inside it’s a proper pub all the way. Predominantly male customers sit quietly over foaming pints of ale, and the enormous bar dominates the room. A large plasma screen TV shows not sport highlights, but the list of available beers, broken down by brewery, %abv and colour (A=’Pale’ through to E=’Very Dark’). It’s a fantastic way to serve, as you order not by name, but by pump number. Instead of squinting at the pump label and ordering a pint of ‘Spoolman’s Old Toothblighter’, which could turn out to be anything, you get to study the listings like at the bookies before you buy.
You do this by pump number, so you can order a drink by simply speaking a single word – which is brilliant. The Wellington also doesn’t serve lager – apart from a couple of German varieties. Other than cider and a solitary Guinness tap, it’s all real ale. They keep a running total of the numbers served – 2242 so far in 2007. Spirits and old pint tankards line the rear of the bar (given the nature of the place they probably aren’t just for decoration), along with boxes of snuff. You can’t buy food there, they have no kitchen, but you can bring in any food you like and eat it there – they’ll even give you cutlery and plates.
The beer is what it’s all about, of course. The afternoon I was there fourteen of the pumps were in operation, showcasing a range of Midlands breweries. Black Country Ales had three on tap (Fireside, Pig on the Wall Mild, and BFG), Burton Bridge, Worfield, Grainstore and Hanby all had one each. Featured guest brewer All Gates (which is in Wigan) had a couple of pale ales on offer – 4% Fifty Marks, and 3.8% Young Pretender. So which did I try? Given that I was partway through a conference and I was on my way to the Halloween themed dinner (don’t ask), I only had time for a couple – so I sampled Black Country’s BFG (Bradley’s Finest Golden) 4.2%abv, and Worfield’s Coalport Dodger Mild (3.5%abv). The first was a tremendously hoppy IPA, a really refreshing light coloured bitter. The second a dark ruby chocolatey beer with a heavy coffee taste. They were both superb. If you find yourself in Birmingham city centre and in need of a beer – go to The Wellington, you’ll not regret it.
