Back in 2021 when Covid restrictions were at their oddest I arranged to meet Sharon and Kina, the two ladies outside family that I have known the longest in my life at The Cat And Fiddle in Great Barr. At the time you could only venture into pubs to have a toilet along with table service and ordering drinks via text message and whatever other rules Boris plucked randomly from the Downing Street suggestion/let’s see if the public do this box. I messaged the pub to reserve a table. Turns out the Saturday I chose was going to be Monsoon Season and the pub called back to say they were not going to open. “We’ll reschedule soon” went into the Facebook chat.

Fast forward 24 months. Towards the end of last season my mate Andy who I sit by at Walsall FC home games suggested a close season pub crawl of Great Barr. Excellent idea. I’ll get the ladies along and it would be nice to see Andy during close season and have a catch up especially as I didn’t see much of him at the last few matches due to how much time I spent in the bar.

So it happened last Saturday. I got up somewhat later than planned but then marched int town with one thing on my mind. A sausage & egg sandwich from the red van at the bottom of the market. Got there and no red van. Talk about a Wayne’s World style “denied”. However I know there is a chip shop by The Cat & Fiddle as I was going to review it on that Saturday in 2021. We have a Chaplain at work who comes around every week asking if we need a prayer. Now I did. Please Lord, let that chip shop be open.

As I ambled to the bus station a busker was in full voice belting out a Buddy Holly classic. It might be Raining In Your Heart fella but it’s now absolutely pissing it down in my stomach due to that lack of sausage and egg.

I sometimes catch the 934 bus from town to by my house but this was the first time I’ve gone beyond that point on it. It’s a most picturesque route and the driver was not messing around. I know not if he was on a promise back at the depot or just aware that I needed food but he got us to The Cat & Fiddle in no time at all.

It was too hot for chips so I opted just for a scallop and jumbo sausage. I headed outside to start munching and loitered around by a parked car to do so. A fine looking lady departed a beauty salon along the row and advanced towards me just as I was putting the sausage in my mouth. We didn’t make eye contact. She didn’t request my number.

Kina and Sharon were already in The Cat and the former rushed off to get me a pint while I exchanged pleasantries with the latter. My only previous visit to this boozer was on Pub Challenge 1 back in 2011. The room we were in had Walsall FC representation both on the wall and with the Saddlers supporting lass that was serving. She was lovely and rightfully won “Barmaid Of The Challenge”. She didn’t win this just because of being a Saddler but it did glean her bonus points that not many of her competitors got.

Anyway the pub has recently been re-furbed, the rooms knocked into one and now family friendly. Very Greene Kingy was my assessment. Andy arrived and told of how when the pub re-opened they had an ABBA tribute act on, featuring just 2 people. I queried which two members were represented and he confirmed it was the two ladies. Imagine the outrage had it been the blokes. Had I been there and they’d performed “Under Attack” they’d have soon had a third member up there with them belting it out. The lasses would no doubt have then sang “Give Me Give Me Give Me This Man Before Midnight”.

We moved onto The Old Horns. No outside seating was spare at The Cat but here we had some and it was gratefully received. Face painting was apparently available here which I was urged to partake in. I declined for a variety of reasons (a) I’m a miserable sod and actually no, that’s the sole reason. I declined this service at Josh’s wedding do (with much more urging) where I was one of the best men so if I’m not doing it when on official duty it certainly aint happening on a normal day.

We moved onto another pub which I’ll report on in a later edition then went to The Beeches. Again outside seating with astro turf to cushion our walk to a table where the previous occupants had left a can of Lynx in a half drank pint of Carling.

There was a massive screen showing crickets and what looked like a sizeable old style toilet block now converted into seating. Andy’s mate Matt and his son Dennis joined us. They are both Sheffield Wednesday fans. I don’t know if they hail from that city but I like Sheffield people and these were top lads so I’m guessing they were.

I tried to make some notes and picked up Shaz’s phone by mistake. Surprisingly it wouldn’t accept my passcode and after a few attempts I put it down and shrieked “my phone’s been hacked”. Very dramatic of me as per usual. Kina asked “why were you trying to unlock Sharon’s phone?” I sheepishly reached into my pocked to find my phone.

Andy and I made one last port of call The Scott Arms where there was the major highlight of a big pack of Quavers. I’ve not had these for yonks and regular readers will know of my battles to try and get these out of the Bescot Bar vending machine.

A band was starting up and the first song was The Smiths classic Panic. “Panic on the streets of London. Panic on the streets of Birmingham as unknown strangers startles local lass with his jumbo sausage”. They also performed Turning Japanese and All Day And All Of The Night which is an absolute classic but the combination of booze and no chips had me feeling like I had been drinking that long. I had one more for the road and then timed my run to the 51 bus to perfection. Another speedy journey and I was home in no time. Another superb day, cheers all.