The Anchor

Lovely historic pubs with a lot of bars/rooms. A handful of ok treated casks.

Nice old school pub. Based on previous reviews it's been done-up but that wasn't immediately obvious to me. A good array of local brews on cask and tap. The one issue for me was that the range of beers was not immediately evident. It was only after I ordered a pint that I spotted a beer board around the corner. Would have happily stayed for a few more ticks but my colleagues were off to the next pub after one round. Not particularly busy on a Thursday at 4:30. The other 5 or so customers were obviously locals known to the barman.

Visit January 2008, 2010.

Large traditional urban boozer in a lovely red-brick corner building outside of the city centre, but walkable from. The large front room utilises both front walls with its large windows on both with seating against, and the bar is against the inner wall in an 'L' shape, sporting a decent row of rotating and local cask ales. Visited in 2017.

Returning to this , after several years away, and I’m afraid I’m slightly disappointed. It used to house a great selection of cask ales, from local micro breweries. Apart from the beer, it had a spit and sawdust charm, with a great variety of rooms to drink in. It’s now been improved internally , so looks quite clean and plush, if that is your think. The range of beers has been reduced.

Visited on a Wednesday evening in October 2015. Lovely old multi-roomed pub which used to be the best pub in Birmingham by a good distance. It’s definitely regained some of the former glory with a great range of beer, a couple of interesting keg efforts all kept in decent condition. Sat in the back room and it’s lovely and peaceful. Prices weren’t too bad, staff were friendly. I’ll make the effort and wander down there again.

Massive old, wooden floored multi-roomed pub. Good range of cask beer and cider even a few "craft keg" fonts though mostly faux craft like Greene king revisionist and shipyard. Reasonably priced, friendly service, jukebox.

Classic boozer and a real decent Birmingham pub from the days when there weren’t any. Lots of little rooms to be found, a pool table and great local patrons, as you’d expect from Brum’s Irish quarter. Lots of handpulls on offer, and usually lots of ticks for people of that inclination. Has recently started dabbling in key-kegs, which only bodes well for the future. Recently sampled some lovely Clouded Minds and local Wolverhampton brewery, Sacre Brew, from their keg-fonts at reasonable prices. One to watch for 2015!

We visited here on Tuesday 25th November 2014 on a brief jaunt to Birmingham to watch a gig by the excellent Perfume Genius. It had been a few years since I’d been here and I was a bit annoyed to see that I’d not rated it previously. It sits just behind the coach station in fact the short stay car park for the coach station is adjacent to the pub. The pub itself is a good looking corner pub, I’m guessing Victorian with a lot of original features. Sadly two TV screens would not have been original and whilst they were being watched by no one with sound mercifully muted and just subtitles I did wonder why bother? Not sure how many rooms there are I know that we were in the larger front bar which had a pool table in this bar featuring a 3/4 height old red wooden (original?) screen to partition it from a much, much smaller bar accessed via a different door, I’d forgotten that last time, I think there is also an old smoke room behind/beyond the bar accessed via the main door heading straight rather than turning right as you enter pub. It was very quiet save for three older folk playing pool and another older chap listening to music via his phone. It seemed a world away from the Purity place and the hustle and bustle of the German Market, in fact it could have been a pub scene from 20,30 or even 40 years ago and I quite liked it for that, the talk was random and light hearted banter. Beer choice was pretty good I had a Box Steam something or other Ltd Ed beer but there was a few H/P and there were also a few kegs I’d not had. I guess the balancing act for this place is to recognise that people will love it for its traditional atmosphere etc but it also needs to keep up with and compete with all of the new kids on the block in terms of beer and offering people what they want, all of this whilst noting it is just a little way out of the main action but I guess it could benefit from its proximity to the coach station and places like the Custard Factory. I hope it continues to hold its own, I guess a Tuesday night at 7pm is always going to be quieter, but I wish it well. Btw I forgot to mention prices were excellent, a 6% beer for under £3 a pint is superb value for money and it was in great nick.

Old-fashioned two-bar pub out toward the Digbeth area of Birmingham. Walkable from the city centre. Despite its opulence it does look a bit tired, especially from the outside. A handful of cask ales (mostly on the strong side), a couple of craft kegs from Sacre Brew, and a few bottles including some Irish craft beer (unfortunately not chilled). This will get rammed on BCFC match days but today it’s quiet.