Anywhere that describes itself as a 'pre club bar' wouldn't normally be the type of place that I'd frequent but being a Lloyds Bar I knew there'd be real ale on offer at reasonable prices. I was right, a pint of Abbot Ale and a packet of salted peanuts was a pleasing £2.99, cheaper than the pint of tasteless Carlsberg that I'd had a few minutes earlier at Velvet Music Rooms.
The pub is built on the site of a former glass works that was founded by Soloman Cutler, it is large pub with two floors. It is the sort of place you would want to avoid at all costs on weekend nights (to be fair that could be said about most of the bars on Broad St) but it's a decent place for a daytime or weekend early evening pint. I must admit I hugely under use this place, a situation I plan to rectify from now on.
There's been a long standing female fallacy that blokes are unable to multi task, well my visit to The Soloman Cutler disproved that myth, not only was I able to simultaneously drink my pint and eat my peanuts, but, thanks to the fact that the pub has got several screens, I was able to watch both the USA v Germany and the Ghana v Portugal games at the same time.
I was sat by a large table of office workers, a group that included an American. How I laughed when one of his colleagues, with a broad Brummie accent, tried to explain what a Party 7 beer can was. He was as unimpressed with that tale as he was when Germany went one nil up. Thankfully the reaction of American keeper Tim Howard was inaudible which was a good job seeing as he suffers from tourettes !!
The game finish one nil to Germany with the other game ending in a draw which meant that Germany and USA had both lasted longer than England whose millionaire players were already back in their mansions.
Time for a swift pint elsewhere before catching my train..
UPDATE 1st July
My visits to The Soloman Cutler are like a poorly run bus service, none for ages and then two come at once. I did vow to rectify the fact that I don't use The Soloman Cutler enough in my previous post but little did I realise that I'd be in there less than a week later.
The 5pm starts for many of the World Cup matches may be handy for the Benefit Street generation but they are not much use for those of us who feel the need to go to work to earn a living so I needed to find a venue near to work to watch Argentina v Switzerland.
I had no desire to repeat my experience of watching another World Cup game in the dreadful Velvet Music Rooms so risked the chance of missing an early goal and went the extra distance to The Soloman Cutler.
It was Steak Night so I looked round carefully to see if Uruguayan carnivore Luis Suarez (who was now relieved of World Cup duties) had popped in for a bite to eat !!
Given the fact that the pub is one of the busiest on Broad St, £1.95 for a lovely pint of Ruddles Best Bitter is a real bargain and I took solace in the fact that I was drinking a nice pint rather than dwelling on the fact that I was watching a particularly uninspiring game of football.
Stand by for a bit of a smarmy smile on this selfie...
For a while I thought that a man on the table next to me was taking part in a Man v Food style time challenge. I have never seen anyone eat so fast. Anyone that has seen me polish off a full English will testify that I'm no slouch but this bloke was in a league of his own. I didn't time him but he must have seen off his mixed grill in less than five minutes !! I hope that he'd got a packet of Rennies tucked away in his pocket !!
I stayed to watch the Argies go through with a solitary extra time goal in a very dull game and made my way home thankful that I'd had three nice pints knowing that the fast eating man was probably feeling the first effects of a well deserved bout of indigestion !!
UPDATE 11th October
It was celebration time as my brother Dave and sister in law Julie were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary and were very kindly treating Shelley and myself to a meal at Red Peppers in The Mailbox.
Dave had given himself palpitations by checking out the drink prices at the restaurant on line ahead of our visit, so amusingly suggested that we 'load up' in a cheaper venue first as the beer prices were 'frightening' !! The Soloman Cutler was my suggestion as I knew that with Ruddles Best Bitter at a Dave pleasing £1.95 a pint he couldn't possibly complain.
I was first to arrive so got 'em in and found time for a bit of selfie action ahead of everyone's arrival...
I think I am beginning to have a need for a non selfie photo in this pub !!
Dave was next to arrive and, as he is a fairly frugal character, he was delighted to hear that he could get a pint on a Friday night on Broad St for less than two quid.
I don't know what happened to the place at around six o'clock but everything seemed to change, most of the bar staff disappeared, the Ruddles ran out, and one of the two tills was taken off, so getting served and choosing a beer was no longer the doddle it was earlier. There's no wonder we rarely visit 'Birmingham's premier entertainment venue' on weekend nights.
Dave went onto the Greene King IPA, while I was on the Adnams Broadside, amusingly, and somewhat appropriately in the event of a silver wedding anniversary, both were served in old man style jugs.
When the four of us finally got together (Julie on white wine, Shelley on Th*tchers Gold cider) we got the happy couple to reflect on their quarter of a century of wedded bliss. Aaaah.
Right, enough of this romantic nonsense, I reckoned that if we all necked our respective drinks we'd just got enough time for a quick stop off ahead of our meal. Next venue The Canalside Café.
UPDATE 17th October
Two Friday visits on the bounce to The Soloman Cutler for me and Shelley, the previous one was with my brother Dave and sister in law Julie, while this one was with our friends Deb and Andy.
Now when it comes to work locations Deb and Andy are at opposite ends of the geographical spectrum, poor Andy works in deepest, darkest ast*n, a Darren Bent miscued shot away from v*lla park, whilst Deb works just off Broad St meaning her pint was being poured as she was walking to the pub and was waiting for her when she arrived.
The round was a bit of a mixed bag, I fancied a session on the pale ale so I was on the Greene King IPA, Andy was on Carling, whilst Shelley and Deb were on different types of cider, Th*tchers and Strongbow respectively. Variety is the spice of life I guess. This was certainly true for Deb who switched to Carling part way through the night thus creating a 1980's style snakebite internally.
The conversation flowed with 80's music being amongst the many varied topics though I will admit to feeling a bit ostracized when they began discussing Shalamar !!
I did vow in my last post to try and capture a non selfie photo in this pub, but once again I failed in my mission so I captured a snap of myself on the pub's top floor looking resplendent in my new shirt...
Another failing was our desire to catch the 21.03 train, the night was too good to finish that early so more beer was ordered. Unfortunately the table that we had used since 6pm was considered to be surplus to requirements at around 9.30pm and was unceremoniously taken away from us by the pub's staff presumably to give more space for the Friday night revellers. I will confess to proudly not counting myself in that crowd.
The last time I was out with Deb and Andy I mysteriously cut my shin on my way home so I took extra care making my way to catch the 22.03 after we'd said our goodbyes !!
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