The Royal Enfield - Redditch

Visited 17th October 2012.
 
I left Stourbridge and a little way out of town I pulled over in to a lay-by and fired up Google on the phone. How hard could it be to find somewhere cheap to stay the night? After downloading a couple of Apps, and calling several numbers it turned out that it was quite hard. I increased the amount I was willing to spend and tried again. I had set myself a hard limit of £40 as at that point I felt I might as well drive home. Another couple of calls and still no luck - so much for all these offers I was finding of cheap rooms for the night! As soon as I tried to book, the offers seemed to disappear and the B&Bs and hotels would try to charge full price which always seemed be at least £70. A new plan was made, I would visit two more pubs and then head for home, good ol' "Plan B". A bit more driving and I was in Redditch which according to my pub list had two 'spoons, "two birds with one stone". I parked up and headed in to 'The Royal Enfield', a converted cinema. I ordered a regular Pepsi and sat and took a look round. The pub was large and not very busy but it had a couple of nice features including a Royal Enfield in the corner. I had a brief, but friendly chat with the barman to get some directions to the next pub followed by a not so brief but still friendly chat with a native about motorcycles. The next pub was within easy walking distance so off I set. There were a couple of drops of rain in the air so it was quite a brisk walk but I made it relatively dry and ready for something eat. 

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Bishop Vesey - Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield

Visited 12th May 2012.
 
The plan was to make 'The Bishop Vesey' our last 'spoons of the day before heading off to the hotel. We were definitely ready for a rest! As I was taking the photo of Mrs S. the sign she was leaning on moved on its springs and almost pitched her over. A friendly wag immediately suggested she should pop along to the AA after leaving the pub. I ordered a pint of Backyard Brewhouse Blonde and Mrs S. had a cup of tea. We took our drinks out the back intending to enjoy the sunshine again but ended up sitting in the shade where we quickly got cold so traipsed back inside and then went upstairs. Upstairs we felt as though we were sitting in a small barn, it was light and airy, a contrast to the darker atmosphere downstairs. By now we were starting to get a bit peckish so decided it was time to head for the hotel where we going to have afternoon tea.
The hotel was only a couple of miles away and it wasn't long before we were sat in the bar enjoying our tea and cake. The hotel was fine and after a nap we were ready for dinner but didn't fancy anything on the hotel menu, hmm where should we eat. If you're guessing a 'spoons then you're wrong although we did end up driving back to 'The Bishop Vesey'. We had noticed earlier that across the road there was a Harvester and the lure of free refills and the salad cart tipped the scales. Come on Tim, free refills please.
  
© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.