Situated just off Victoria Square, and in full view of where Blues's Vince Overson held aloft the Leyland Daf trophy to the heaving masses of jubilant Birmingham City supporters (including myself and sister Karen) back in 1991, the bar is in a prime location.
I'd arranged to meet my long time mate Gaz in there on his recommendation and what a fine suggestion it was, mind you I must admit I wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting up with my old school friend seeing as a few days earlier he'd took a return catch off his own bowling to take my prize scalp at the Dave Dixon memorial cricket match at Alvechurch. He'll be dining out on that for years trust me !!
The pub is a great one, a fairly spacious open plan area, which must get packed with post work drinkers on a Friday night, surrounded by informal benches and more formal tables for diners. The kitchen is very much open and on view to the point of it forming an integral part of the pub.
The beer selection is very very impressive which I guess is no more than you would expect from a pub run by Purity, an independent Warwickshire based brewery. I chose a pint of their very own Purity UBU from the choice of drinks displayed on a blackboard behind the bar. Be warned, some of the prices aren't for the faint hearted (there are several pints over the £5 mark) but the UBU at £4.20 was a bit more bearable.
Food does feature prominently during a visit to the pub with people either snacking, pickled eggs, pork pies and sausage rolls are available behind the bar, or sitting down eating. The sit down meals are what Gaz perceptively described as 'rustic with a modern twist', chips on a cutting board with a thick slice of doorstep bread and butter, cheese platters, chips served in tin cups etc.
Getting served is a bit of an issue in the pub, not because there aren't enough bar staff, more because there is a huge eye level pipe that runs the length of the middle section of the bar so it is impossible to try and catch the eye of the bar staff.
It would be churlish to moan about such irritations however as this is a very good pub, and Gary and I were having no problem knocking back a few pints of UBU ignoring the fact that it was a school night.
Even a trip to the downstairs toilet is a bit of an adventure, there are a couple of mysterious rooms..
...and, when you do eventually find the loo it is a bit of a guessing game as there are no signs on the doors to distinguish the men's and women's toilets. So, you've got to ask yourself a question, Hops are better or Malt is sweet? You decide...
Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?!!
UPDATE 27th May
We returned home, after eight fabulous nights in Benalmadena, on the Monday night and, as we were still off, decided that a trip into Brum the next day would be a good idea.
Our first calling point was Pure Bar & Kitchen. I was very impressed with it on my first visit and felt that Shelley would like it so, as it was near our arrival point of New St station it seemed like a great place to start.
On route to the pub we passed the Embarrassing Bodies tv truck where live filming was taking place. We could just see into the waiting room which presumably contained patients more than happy to show their haemorrhoids to the millions watching on tv. Why would you?!!
I was right, Shelley loved Pure Bar and Kitchen, 'this my kind of place' was her enthusiastic review, stating that she wished it was located in Tamworth.
It was just after 2pm when we arrived so it was emptying of lunchtime drinkers, I therefore had little difficulty ordering my pint of Purity UBU and a cider for Shelley the name of which escapes me which is a shame as she loved it.
I've stated before that it is a bit pricey but it's well worth it, Shelley's cider (number seven from the selection board) was a fiver a pint but as it was so lovely and at 6% ABV the price didn't seem unreasonable.
Shelley was that impressed that she suggested that we stop for another and returned not only with more drinks but also with some snacks, pork scratchings, spicy nuts (sounds like a complaint that could be dealt with at the Embarrassing Bodies truck) and chilli sausage roll. Quality.
We would have happily stated there all afternoon but decided to do a bit more exploring.
UPDATE 12th December
Now, I wish to stress that I am by no means an Ebenezer Scrooge type character, but the festive season makes life difficult for people that don't limit their alcoholic beverage consumption to one month a year.
A perfect example of the issues that Christmas causes came when I had arranged to meet long term friends Gaz, Shaun, Rich and Simon for a few beers in town two Fridays before the big day.
We were due to meet in Pure Bar and Kitchen at 6.30pm which in hindsight was probably a bad move. Town was full of post work drinkers (many of whom were on Christmas do's), Christmas shoppers and visitors to the Frankfurt Christmas market.
I was subjected to the humiliation of having to queue to get into the pub. I was told by the bouncer (or are they called door supervisors these days?!!) that as the place was full they were adopting a one in one out policy so I had to wait for someone to leave before I could go in. Where are these people in March?!!
In all honesty I was pleasantly surprised how empty the place was when I eventually gained entry, there was obviously a sensible capacity agreed so getting served to fabulous pints of Purity UBU was a seamless task, and we even managed to bag a seat for a while.
Obtaining a seat wasn't necessarily a bad thing given the advancing years of us all, so much so it was like listening to the script from an episode of Casualty !! My chums were suffering from all manner of different ailments. Thankfully, bar a bit of flatulence (brought on by over indulgence on bottles of real ale at home the previous evening), I was in fairly good health. Sorry, was that too much information?!!
I waited for Simon to arrive before taking the obligatory snap..
...(with apologies to Rich and Shaun for the overpowering flash !!).
Excuses for lateness that made mention of his wife and daughter going to see The Nutcracker suggested that Simon was the arty to my farty !!
After a few pints I wished the boys a Merry Christmas before making my way home earlier than I would have liked as I knew that I had to negotiate my way through the Christmas crowd control system at New St station.
No Roy Wood, I'm sorry but I do NOT wish it could be Christmas every day !!
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