BRAPA in .... IT'S ONLY WORDS(LEY), AND WORDS(LEY) IS ALL I HAVE

Saturday 25th November 10:59am

A second BRAPA trip in four months to the generous pub town of Stourbridge was the latest step towards a fully green 'West Midlands', something I'm determined to achieve by the time the 2025 Good Beer Guide drops onto my doormat next September.

Hull City were away at Swansea, but with few ticks left to do in that area of Glamorgan, keeping it West Midlands made more sense, and Daddy BRAPA needed no convincing. On an icy but sunny morning, he was suffering with a horrid bout of man-flu but was still feline positive ......

MEOW

Even better, we had an early opener, almost a pre-requisite of York-Birmingham days because the train gets you in for 10am, you need to be out at 7pm, but time gets away from you very quickly once 5pm hits.

Here it pub #1, and there was no stopping Bernard .....

Hop Vault, Stourbridge (2544 / 4702)

Always a bit apprehensive at these ticks which are primarily beer shops - past experiences in places like Ossett and Huddersfield where you're just wandering a shop with drink in hand isn't too comfortable, but like Crafty Merlin's in Darlo two days previous, I was impressed by the Hop Vault. It had warmth, affable staff, and most importantly for Dad's tickly cough, it had cask Kernel Dry Stout which was smoother than a waxed badger's bum and had me purring like a kitten. Colin suggested it is beer of the year. Steady on! But no time to linger, we had a bus to catch.

But the bus was delayed, and about ten others chugged past us, most with 'Dudley' on the front. Thankfully, everyone else in the bus shelter was waiting for the same one as us and were getting quite impatient, which halved my frustration.

Today's furthest point north on the fruitful no. 16 bus route was a place called Kingswinford but I kept calling it either Kinswingsford or Oldkingswinsford to show it isn't only Northants place names than confuddle my simple brain.

Bridge Inn, Kingswinford (2545 / 4703)

The latest Black Country Ales pub to add to my collection (gotta catch 'em all!), it was only the arctic conditions anywhere other than in front of the fire plus some pretty dire music that stopped me from declaring this 'pub of the day'. But I should be generous, it mostly deserves a shining review. Helpful landlord, 8.5 carpet, fire is a 9 (needs to be), high quality pint of BFG (Bradley's Finest Golden) because the locals hammer the ale in these parts, and curvy upholstered benches top off a winning scene. We only didn't hit the delicious looking chunky cobs this early because Daddy B was off colour. Sleeper's 'Inbetweener' (one of my Britpop faves) rescues the music situation late on, and as Dad goes to the loo to give his nose a good blow, a little ole' lady creeps up on me, says ""ooh, if you are going, can we sit in front of the fire?" and has me rearranging the furniture so her and her hubbie are all nicely set!

A happy pub scene

Another slight bus delay and Dad is scrambling to a petrol station for a new box of tissues (but ultimately loses his nerve, and just as well because the bus is steaming down the road).

Next stop, Wordsley, but I can't even say this simple place name. I think because Birmingham has a Bordesley, I keep calling it Wordersley!

Two ticks here, let's check them out.

New Inn, Wordlsey (2546 / 4704)

If I'm pushing to visit all Black Country pubs, then I'm certainly up for the smaller collection of Batham's brilliant basic classics. Didn't quite feel the magic here as I had in Wollaston in July, but it's up there with Stourbridge's Royal Exchange I did a few years back. I went bitter last time, so chose mild this time. I'm going to keep rotating if I can remember. What ultimately impresses me most about this boozer (and it'd be a theme of today from here on in) is what a buzzy hive of activity and jolly smiling faces it contains - the kind where you bump into a bloke at the urinal and he'll say in an amazing accent "having a good day bab?" I hope pub users in this part of the world realise how lucky they are because I've not been anywhere else in the UK quite like the West Midlands, spellbinding pubbing.

Past the famous Glassworks, a Belgian waffle of a canal, and some really Norfolk scenery with none of the misery, we go in search of pub #4......

Bird in Hand, Wordsley (2547 / 4705)

Today really peaked for me here at this understated recent award winner, proof that the local CAMRA gang know their stuff. We'd cob-dodged for long enough, but here was a twist we weren't expecting, scotch eggs! With a soft crispy batter outer, and a warm eggy centre, this was easily the finest SE (good initials) I'd had in my existence, I could never go back to Sainsbury's shop bought flim flam after this! Daddy BRAPA had been on the halves all day, another sign he wasn't on peak form, but now he hits the brandy and I wonder if he's the first person in humanity to try this food/drink combo. The Hobson's tastes like this part of the world, Liverpool equalise, and a few not very mobile blokes shuffle and make anxious calls on their mobiles to the wife / bookies. A great pub that just knew how to 'be', didn't try too hard, but tried hard enough.

I calculate that it definitely is not worth hopping on another number 16, pub #5 is only an 11 minute walk and here was me thinking Wordsley and Amblecote were light years apart!

Nice when you notice stuff like that. Phone battery dies so I have to take the below photo retrospecitvely midway through my pint, hence the lack of posers .......

Red Lion, Amblecote (2548 / 4706)

You're looking at a POTY if this is Kingdom of Fife / Tayside, but being in the pub hub which is the West Midlands, it got a bit 'lost in the noise' for me. Still quite strong, but a better pubman than me (his name is Jim) will tell you this is only a second ever GBG apperance for the Red Lion, the first being 2016. Like the New Inn up in Wordsley, the real joy here is that the whole family come in from grandparents to grandkids. And not for a planned meal, just a drink and a bostin' laugh. The 5% Salopian is killing me, in the gentlest way possible. Daddy B, or is is Colin, still on the brandy. The highlight is when we glance up to see this polite young gent hovering close to our table. We think he's got it reserved and is gently trying to usurp us, but alas no, he follows me on X/Twitter, saw I was here, was passing, so just popped into say hello. Really nice moment.

One pub left to go, and it once more it made sense to amble(cote) back down the hill into Stourbridge, where our day had begun what seems like hours ago, probably because it was .....

Duke William, Stourbridge (2549 / 4707)

And it is a first apperance since 2017 for this frosty glassed two roomed gem which has an even more keyed-up atmosphere than those which have preceeded it, I shudder to think what it is like by 10pm! A woodburner bubbles in one corner, a tiled corridor of some repute leads to the gents, and by the time we leave, groups of innocent men are vertical drinking, either due to lack of seating or because this is how they roll. Sorry, how they cob. The only downside for me was the beer. Nothing wrong with the condition, but a brewery called Craddock's I'd not seen before. Just couldn't get along with it, too homebrewwie like my 1997 special, Dad had a different variety and felt the same. But with the news coming through that Hull City had come back from 2-0 down to draw at Swansea, today's overall feel good factor was complete. Just ask Col who'd had enough.

Despite giving ourselves more than two hours to get back to Brum, which should really have yielded a bonus seventh tick, it becomes a bit messy and we ended up retiring to New Street for coffee, where a station cleaner discovers this little rubber duck on the bench next to us and encourages us to adopt him.

I'm calling him Dudley, Colin's first ever mascot. Meta.

So that was that, join me either Saturday / Sunday 9pm (depends which day I'm the most sober, which says a lot about the weekend in front of me) when I'll tell you about what completing East Yorkshire really feels like.

Keep it pub, Si