For stone fans I can tell you that the stone used on The Red Lion is of Cotswold limestone vernacular style. Whoever said this blog was just about beer?!
The night Shelley and I visited it was a Friday night when Warwickshire were in T20 action at Edgbaston, this always means one inevitable thing....it was raining so rather than walk we arrived in some style in an Ambassador Cars Datsun from Shelley's Mum and Dad's house nearby.
I was a lot less nervous entering the pub than I was one Sunday afternoon around five and a half years ago as this was where I met The Fockers, aka Shelley's Mum and Dad Jan and Mick.
There is seriously nothing to dislike about this pub. It's a great venue for real ale enthusiasts with a sign by the bar stating 'Cask Ale, TBYB'. I must admit it took me ages to work that one out......Try Before You Buy !! I wish people that think it's clever to use acronyms would just BOGOF !!
I opted for a pint of Purity UBU without feeling the need to try it first with Shelley going for a pint of Th*tcher's Gold.
The pub was showing the Germany v France World Cup quarter final but to be honest it didn't really interest me given the fact that both nations aren't particularly popular with us English. It's the international equivalent of v*lla against v*lla reserves !!
We spotted Shelley's Mum and Dad's neighbours Tina and Karl having a cigarette outside and joined them for a couple of pints. I stuck to my Purity UBU though this clearly wasn't the option for the mad hatters on table 17 who had partaken in a tea party.
Some nights it is ages before you feel the need to 'break the seal' and this was the case for me during our trip to The Red Lion where I didn't go until it was almost time to leave. The sign on the door indicated that they were expecting me..
A review that I read for this pub in the Birmingham Mail stated 'If you had a friend visiting from another city then this famous Brum boozer would be a place you'd ideally want to impress them with.'
I couldn't agree more.
UPDATE 6th July
A warm summer's day meant that a Sunday afternoon pint was on the agenda and what could be a better venue than The Red Lion? Okay it doesn't have a beer garden as such and the view looking out of the pub onto the traffic lights on Vicarage Road one way and an unsightly block of flats the other way isn't exactly what you'd call picturesque but it is a great destination for some alfresco drinking.
I was conscious of it being a school night so steered clear of the Purity UBU that I had enjoyed a few days earlier due to its 4.5% strength and went for a Brummie favourite (now brewed in Wales) Brew XI at a much more work friendly 3.6%.
I noticed at the bar that, despite the fact that the date was July 6th, they were already advertising Christmas offers at The Red Lion encouraging Festive punters to 'Settle in with us at Christmas'. £39.95 will get you Christmas lunch with all the trimmings though to be honest I was more in the mood for a bar b q as we settled outside in the sunshine.
The outside area was quite full and in good voice with one table treating us to a rousing version of Frankie Laine's I Believe. Unfortunately their singing had an adverse impact on the weather with a sudden downpour forcing us inside.
We stopped for a couple more and caught the end of the men's singles final at Wimbledon where Shelley's Mum's favourite Roger Federer lost in a five set thriller to Novak Jokovic.
As good as the beer is at The Red Lion I couldn't help noticing on our way out that they water down some of the drinks...
UPDATE 3rd August
It was a school night which means that beer always slips down a treat because psychologically I think your body must know that it's wrong and that's what makes it right !!
There is always a good selection of ales at the Red Lion so a pint of Wadsworth 6X and a seat outside was the order of the day..
When I popped indoors to get my second pint I noticed that the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games had just started and was being shown on the pub's large tv. I could not get out quickly enough, I was scared that John Barrowman would start singing again !!
The seal soon went and I couldn't help but chuckle at a sign on the pub's toilet door, a convenience apologising for inconvenience !!...
The difference between the sexes was demonstrated by an incident that we witnessed outside the pub. One rather large gentleman was somewhat intoxicated and needed help from his mates to get into a taxi. His size and drunken state meant that he turned very, very awkwardly on his ankle, infact we both thought that he may have even broken it. Now, at this point, women would, quite rightly, show compassion. So, what did the blokes do? Bundle him into the cab with the following farewell message 'See ya tomorrow ya gobsh*te' !!
UPDATE 24th December
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.....that was because we'd all cleared off to The Red Lion for a Christmas Eve drink !!
I will admit in normal circumstances it was a probably a night I'd have stopped in, I'd caught the cold that had blighted most of the country (not man flu before you females start trotting out your standard line) and wasn't really feeling up to it but manfully I fought through the pain barrier (yes I know, wasn't I brave?!!) and made my way to the pub with Shelley, her Mum Jan, brother Craig and sister in law Maria.
The pub unsurprisingly was full so it was standing room only except for Jan who had managed to bag what was probably the last seat in the place..
Although there was nothing wrong with my pints of Purity UBU they didn't really taste of much, I knew at that point I was seriously ill, my illness was affecting my drinking !!
I think it must have also had an impact on my hearing, Maria asked me if a disco had started and I said that I couldn't hear anything. Not only had a disco started, the first song the DJ played was AC/DC !! I was not a well man !!
We had positioned ourselves in an alcove towards the back of the pub...
...which meant that we were away from most of the Christmas revellers, that was until a big gang of lads 'took our end' to use 1970's football hooligan terminology. There must have been about twenty young blokes on a jolly boys Christmas Eve celebration who muscled in on our alcove. One young whippersnapper even had the cheek to ask Shelley to take a photo of the lads, undoubtedly it is now on Facebook, Instagram or whatever it is that young folks do these days !!
They managed to do something quite impressive mind you, their drunken rendition of Fairytale of new York was actually more out of tune than Shane McGowan's singing on the original !!
There wasn't much festive fun for the women, they were forced to use the upstairs lavatory as the downstairs toilet was flooded. Is a Yuletide log comment compulsory at this point?!!
On the subject of the loo (as I normally am !!) the most bizarre moment of the night was when a Jocky Wilson look a like approached me and said 'Where's the loo? I've walked all the way from Bristol for a p*ss' !!.... I'm not sure if every service station on the M5 was closed but that truly was a herculean effort to spend a penny !!
Shelley had cooked us a curry (chicken not turkey) and it was waiting for us back at Jan's so I called us a cab relatively early and we made our way back noting that we would be back in the same venue in just over twelve hours time...illness permitting !!
UPDATE 25th December
I know that Andy Williams thinks that it's 'the most wonderful time of the year' but I will admit I didn't agree with him one little bit when I woke on Christmas morning. I felt dreadful. The prospect of a midday drink in The Red Lion carried about as much festive appeal as one of Sir Cliff's songs. Drastic action was needed and it came in the form of some food (boiled egg and toast, thanks Shelley though you could have cut the toast into soldiers for me !!), a shower, and the unexpected treat of Shelley's Mum Jan rubbing Vic into my chest !! I was about as ready as I was ever going to be.
The Yuletide crew of the previous evening, myself, Shelley, Jan, Craig and Maria were joined by Shelley's other brother Mark, sister in law Tracey and Shelley's nephew Ryan so there was almost as many of us as there were reindeers on Santa's sleigh a few hours before. I'm sure who would be which reindeer but I'm more a dancer than a prancer !!
Earlier that day I had watched, with some interest, the Royal Family arrive for church. Her Maj got there first by car and the rest of the royal party followed her on foot lead by the Duke of Edinburgh. Our journey to The Red Lion was quite similar, the girls went by car, whilst the lads had a stroll to the pub with Craig playing the role of Phil the Greek without the obligatory inappropriate remarks about foreigners !!
Jan was playing a blinder, not only had she acted as my personal nursemaid earlier, she also got the first round in so there was a pint of Purity UBU waiting for me as I arrived. Unfortunately I then spent the next three hours nursing beer. I will shamefully admit that three of my drinks were halves. It wasn't really happening for me, of all of the days of the year to be ill !!
We all raised our glasses to Shelley's Dad Mick, someone who we really miss and definitely a bloke who used to love a Christmas Day lunchtime pint...or two !!
We stopped until last orders, had a quick photo stop on our way back to Jan's..
..and went back for Christmas dinner. Well, to be honest I made a pathetic attempt at my meal, which was probably about the same size as Victoria Beckham's, and went to bed at the ludicrously early hour of 6.30, and no it wasn't a washing up avoidance technique or a ploy to miss the Call the Midwife Christmas special !!
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