Yesterday was a trip to Kidderminster. Been to Aggborough 2 or 3 times, popped to The Peacock in August after Bewdley and went on a great pub crawl in 2018 as part of Pub Challenge 3. On that day, I had a printed map but I’ve now left SciChem with its lovely printer by my desk, I’m not yet down with maps on phone like the Gen Zed kids so this was a seek and you shall hopefully find kind of mission. 

I knew of the first 3 pubs and the last, rest would be down to wandering around aimlessly.

Upon arrival at Kidderminster railway station, due to a leak there was no water in the toilets so they were out of order. Can’t open due to no water? Sounds like Precious Little from Come Fly With Me has a new job. 

I called a taxi – I’ve only used this company once before but the operator got my name – Mikee, right.

It arrived quickly, I got in and a sign said “please tell the driver if you have a preferred route.” ‘Quickest route please George’ I thought as I buckled up.

I’m always edgy when travelling by taxi in an unfamiliar place, this wasn’t helped when he ignored a left turn saying “town centre” and suddenly buildings were replaced by greenery and we turned, according to a sign in the direction of Stourbridge.

I got brave, most unlike me. “We are going to the right place aren’t we?” “Yeah” came the reassured response. “Blue Bell Pub on Hurcott Lane?” Had he been taking his test, he’d have passed the emergency stop.

“The operator put you down for the Bluebell Estate.” I nearly asked if there is a pub. At least the operator got my name right. I should have said when getting in “my preferred route isn’t via Stourbridge.”

We were soon at the pub and he didn’t charge for the detour. 

The Blue Bell (pub) was playing metal. No idea what the residents of the estate were listening to. It sounds posh so I reckon The Carpenters but I’d be disappointed if none of them were listening to the classic 80’s song Young At Heart.

In The Peacock one local was complaining about the cost of Kidderminster Harriers games. “£20 in now. It’s why I stopped going. It should be £12 max” and with a gesture round the pub, finished with “besides, I’ve got better things to do on a Saturday.” 

I’d popped into The Peacock to tell the landlady how I’d got on in my Cluedo pub game, which she’d helped me with but she wasn’t about. I’d told her on that visit that I’d be back and I’m a man of my word.

Next up was The Post House, now a Davenports pub which used to be The Red Man which we visited as part of my pub 147 snooker challenge. Music in here covered the decades from Fleetwood Mac, Dexys Midnight Runners through to Daniel Bedingfield. 

The menu looked great with the highlight being the Chippy Tea sharing platter. I’d have ordered it but (a) I was too excited and (b) I’d got nobody to share it with, although I suspect not much sharing would have occurred. I would be very generous with offering out the mushy peas. When I finally meet Mrs Right, we are going back for this. I shall not reserve my table just yet.

Ye Olde 7 Stars was decent with a really cool outside seated area. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet was played earning a Song Of The Day Award nomination. Cushions Of The Day however was snapped up here. Never known a pub have personalised cushions before.

The Boars Head made it onto the shortlist of the Pub Of The Challenge Award shortlist for pub Challenge 3 (full list here) so I was pleased to find it again. It’s such a cool place and the music reflected this. We did have the second Daniel Bedingfield song of the day, this time If You’re Not The One. Is he massive in Kidderminster or something?

The Swan was busy but quiet so I caught up on some notes. I found a Greggs and tried the pigs in blankets. They were OK

I didn’t find Lucy’s Bar which we ticked off last time when it was called Beer Emporium. The Wetherspoons The Penny Black has closed since our visit but I couldn’t see where that was located.

I started to head back towards the station, assisted by sign postage that Edinburgh can only dream of, although these signs suddenly dried up but a nice lady at a bus stop pointed me in the right direction providing more assistance in 30 seconds than the 3 people I’d asked last time I was in town.

I’ll say this for Kidderminster, they love their subways and I don’t mean the multi question asking sandwich purveyor. My left knee decided it wasn’t such a fan as I climbed up the steps out of the last one.

I saw Weavers on the way back to the station but as Josh had rang and dangled the carrot of a meet up later on, I was cutting the day short so missed it. It’s a great place though.

The Railway Bell was last. Friendly and vibrant and the dj was quite entertaining whilst getting his equipment erect. I managed to miss a train by a minute but 15 of them later, I was heading to Brum.

Birmingham was busy as usual. There was a group of ladies with witches hats on. One gave me a smile, a point of her wand and a “yaaah” which I liked. Hope it was a lucky spell. 

I headed to Digbeth. It was cool and vibrant as per normal. I smiled at the O2 Academy as it was 2 months to the day until Hard-Fi. The Big Bulls Head had to be visited although it felt strange to be not heading to a gig next door. A screen showed England were 4-0 up against Croatia. I didn’t even know we were playing.

From there I headed to The White Swan. As a man approached on the main street, he stopped and vomited in front of me. I normally have that effect on women. Nice to be branching out I guess. He looked up and gave me a “sorry mate.” I accepted his apology and cheerfully carried on with my day. 

I was visiting The White Swan to again give Cluedo feedback. Again, the person that helped wasn’t about. Neither were any customers. There wasn’t a single other person. Such a shame as it’s a great pub. I felt for the bloke serving who was a decent lad. People of Birmingham and the great Western Midlands please visit this pub. We can’t lose it again. 

I cut the visit short and headed for New Street. Next train cancelled. Marvellous. Regular readers will know of my disdain for the regular non-working escalators but this time I got to witness one fail in front of me and catch the feedback from luggage lifting travellers.

As the previous train was cancelled, the next one was rammed and of course some folk had forgotten their headphones. I’d left the house at 6.30, for a pre-Kiddy mission – somewhat in a hurry and I’m not the most organised of folk but I’d still remembered mine. I just wasn’t using them as I was reading A Lesson In Cruelly by Hartiet Tyce as I’d only got 9 days left to finish it before The Moth Sausage Book Club at Walsall Rugby Club reconvenes.

Josh picked me up at Bescot Stadium Station. It was nice to see the ground as if Crawley hadn’t got the game postponed, I’d have been there instead of Kidderminster.

Josh handed me food as soon as I got in the car. He’d read my mind again. We headed to Walsall Arms. Friend of the blog Alison was serving and it was nice to see her again. It was busy and entertaining in there.

The singer announced that she was going to play UB40, we appreciated the warning and took that as our cue to leave managing to depart without hearing a note.

Fab day but I needed my bed. England won 7-0. I missed all of the goals.