The pub has been in decline since the emergence of both Broad Street and The Mailbox but has now had a £500,000 makeover though in all honesty very little has changed, the layout of the pub is pretty much identical and the clientele of blokes after a cheap pint remains unchanged. So on a wet Tuesday Birmingham evening me and Gaz were one of those bargain hunting blokes so we were delighted by the sign we saw when we entered..
We spent our £2.00's on pints of Greene King IPA, and, to be fair, they were pretty decent. We were soon joined by our mate Rich who I'm afraid to say has football allegiances on the wrong side of the city and try as we do we can't get him to come over from the dark side.
Although this was a popular pulling joint back in the 80's, the 2014 version of this venue is completely different with the only woman in the place being the barmaid but what did I care, the beer was £2.00 a pint, they were showing the football and AC/DC's Hells Bells was being played on the pub's sound system !!
All aboard !!!
UPDATE 7th March
I mentioned in my previous post that The Railway, in its previous guise as Sam Wellers, was an old haunt of Shelley and her mates, so it seemed appropriate that we ended our Friday night post work session at that particular venue especially given its proximity to the station as the 21.03 was looking a good bet noting our early start.
It was the first time that Shelley had visited the pub since its £500,000 refit and she was as unimpressed as I was, infact her comment 'it stinks in here' was one I couldn't disagree with. The stench probably had something to do with the fact that, despite the expensive refurbishment, the pub is still frequented by middle aged / elderly men in search of a cheap pint. That said, this particular middle aged man (albeit an unsmelly one) ordered himself a cheap (£2) pint of Greene King IPA...
The great thing about this place though is that it is really convenient for easy access to the rear entrance to New Street station, so we finished our drinks, kicked in the station's back doors and we were sat on the train literally two minutes after leaving the pub.
Despite my earlier good intentions the night was heading for its predictable conclusion, one for the road back in Wetherspoons Tamworth !!
UPDATE 27th November
Leaving work is always nice, leaving work on a Friday night is better but leaving work for a two week holiday really ups the ante and that's what I did when I left to meet Shelley's brother Craig and sister in law Maria in Birmingham city centre.
They were on their way to see comedian Lee Mack at the NEC but, given the recent renovation to Birmingham New Street train station and the various building projects that are going on in and around the city centre, I thought it was probably a good idea if I acted as a second city tour guide for my guests from Hereford.
I met them off the bus and took them through the city centre to the pub. Okay, maybe I could have done better than The Railway but Craig likes Peroni, Maria is a fan of Aspall cider and I like ale so as all three were available I believe my choice of venue, particularly given its proximity to the station was fully vindicated.
It had been several years since Maria had been in the pub, she used to meet Shelley in there regularly on a Sunday night many years ago in the days when the pub was legendary 1980's venue Sam Wellers. We even stood in the same spot that Shelley and her friends used to occupy and fiercely guard all those years ago..
The meet up was only supposed to be a brief one as they'd got a show to go to and we were saving ourselves for the next day when we (plus Shelley) were all meeting up for a few afternoon drinks in the Jewellery Quarter but the beers were slipping down a treat so it was a rather pacey four pints before they made their way for the 18.50 to Birmingham International..
See you tomorrow...
UPDATE 28th November
We had been promising to take Shelley's brother Craig and sister in law Maria to Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter for a few drinks for ages, 'When are we going to the icy cider bar?' is a question we are regularly asked by Maria. The icy cider bar that she refers to is the Lord Clifden on the outskirts of the Jewellery Quarter so called because it sells cider that has the consistency of an alcoholic slush puppy although in all honesty they are probably best enjoyed on a warm July afternoon rather than a dark, damp November day, however the moment had finally arrived.
My brief meet up with Craig and Maria at The Railway the previous night had been a successful one so we adopted the if it ain't broke strategy and used it as a convenient starting point ahead of our trip to the Jewellery Quarter.
Craig and Maria's trip to and from town on the number 35 the night before had left them traumatised so they brought along Shelley's mum Jan for moral support..
You will notice that Jan has got her eyes closed, maybe I'd sent her to sleep by describing the quality of the Greene King IPA at The Railway !!
You may also notice that once again we were located in Shelley's Sam Weller's spot, I told you she protected it fiercely !!
We were only stopping for a swifty at The Railway, we'd got drinking duties to perform in the Jewellery Quarter whilst Jan was off to Debenhams.
Ta ra a bit !!
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