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The White Swan Wythall (Birmingham)
by loulou22 The White Swan located on the Alcester Road in Wythall near Birmingham is a Crown Carveries pub I have been going to for a couple of years. I originally started going here because it was just across the road from work and my work mates and I decided that it would be a great idea to go for a carvery on a Friday lunchtime. Since leaving my ... work and moving away I have visited The White Swan a couple of times and I'm pleased to say nothing has changed and they still serve an excellent carvery. As I have eaten here so many times I will base my review on my most recent visit in May 2012 and I may refer to previous visits if necessary. To get to the pub from the direction of Birmingham city centre you need to head towards the Maypole roundabout, from here you should follow the Alcester road for a couple of miles, you will go past a row of shops slightly set back from the road on the left and the pub is on the left not too far after these shops. Inside the Pub Walking into the pub the first thing you will notice is The White Swan has quite a traditional pub feel to it with a bright red patterned carpet. The decor in the pub consists of large wooden beams running along the ceiling and raw brick walls as well as brewing memorabilia and quite a few pictures hanging on the walls of days gone by in the local area. The pub is quite well spread out with many tables and chairs of varying heights as well as the carvery area located to the right of the bar. The bar area is quite large and on most occasions it has been pretty clear and very easy to get served. As I have usually had to return to work or drive home after our visits to this pub I have tended to drink soft drinks when I am here. During our last visit here in May 2012 a small coke cost me £1.20. The drinks I have had here have never been watered down and are usually nicely chilled. Have a Carvery Our main reason for visiting The White Swan so often was to enjoy a nice carvery for lunch on a Friday afternoon. We had an hour for lunch so at first we were unable to decide whether we would have enough time to eat, but it actually turned out that we did and we had time to spare as well! To enjoy a carvery at The White Swan you will first need to find yourself a table and then pay for your carvery at the bar. During the week a carvery will cost you just £3.99 but this increases on a Sunday to £7.49. Once paid for you will be given a receipt for your carvery and you will need to join the queue in the carvery serving area to the right of the bar. As we were on limited time it was always vital for us that the queue was either short or moved quickly and thankfully this was never an issue. I would say the longest we waited in the queue for was 5 minutes. So, from here I will continue with my most recent experience of eating here... When I was finally at the front of the queue I gave the chef my receipt and he then asked me if I would like a Yorkshire pudding and stuffing. I was then asked what meat I would like, during the week there is a choice of turkey, beef or gammon. I chose gammon and turkey as I couldn't make up my mind and they both looked nice. The chef sliced both meats and put 2 large pieces of each on my plate. He then handed me my plate and I headed for the self service vegetables, I had pretty much the usual choice of peas, carrots, mash potato, cauliflower cheese, Swede and roast potatoes. There was possibly a few more choices but I cannot remember them all. I carefully rearranged my meat and yorkshire pudding on the plate to create as much space as possible before taking a generous helping of roast potatoes, peas and carrots. I then covered the whole plate in gravy and headed back to our table to enjoy. Once back at the table I waited for the others to return before tucking in to my meal. The turkey was cooked nicely and tasted very tender, it wasn't dry at all which was great as I hate dry turkey! The gammon was nice, and cooked just right, I've never really eaten gammon much in the past but I really enjoyed it. The peas and carrots were nice and the roast potatoes were simply perfect, I managed to choose the potatoes which looked crispy on the outside and it turned out to be a good choice as the insides were lovely and fluffy and if I wasn't so full after the meal I think I would have liked a plate simply filled with the potatoes! For the vegetarians among you there is a veggie option of having meat free lasagne or some kind of tomato bake with the same unlimited veg option. I haven't tried these so I cannot give my opinion here. Crown Carveries also offer a carvery breakfast which looks very tasty, however I don't think I was ever awake early enough to go for breakfast before work! It was hard enough to simply arrive there on time! Toilets The toilets here have always been clean and looked after with enough toilet roll although they could do with topping the soap up a bit more often as on quite a few occasions this has been empty. Accessibility Accessibility for wheelchairs and pushchairs at The White Swan is fantastic. The main entrance is almost on a level with the car park with only a small kerb to go up, however there are dropped areas in the kerb so you shouldn't have any problems here. Once inside the pub everything is accessible on one level apart from one part of the restaurant area which has steps leading up to it but there are plenty of places to sit on the lower level so this shouldn't be a problem. Location The White Swan is located on the Alcester Road in Wythall, this is quite a long road but from the Maypole roundabout it is only a couple of minutes by car. The White Swan is around 20 minutes by car from Birmingham city centre. There is a decent sized car park in front of the pub, the entrance is marked by a large sign advertising the pub so you can't really miss it. The section of the Alcester Road you will be driving along is a 30pmh zone so you don't need to worry about racing past and missing it. The exact address for The White Swan is: Alcester Road, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6JG Overall Overall I would really recommend The White Swan. I have enjoyed many carveries here and I hope to enjoy many more on future visits back to the area. The staff are friendly and serve you quickly and the carvery chef will even have a little conversation with you if he isn't too busy! My next visit to Birmingham is next week and I have already arranged with my old work mates to meet up and go here for a carvery! 5 out of 5 Stars from me. Thanks for reading :) Read the complete review |
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Wetherspoons Pubs - in general
by bettyboop2002 A bit about the chain Wetherspoons is a chain of pubs all around the UK there are hundreds of them. Each one is different they range from small, traditional pubs to large, modern, contemporary buildings, airport bars and even hotels. I have never stayed in any of their hotel pubs but for future reference I just looked up ... The Briar Rose in Birmingham (I'm going there in a few weeks and havent booked a place yet) A family double for 2 adults and one child is coming up at £39 for the Thursday night ant £55 for the Friday night. It sounds and looks lovely but they always do on the websites so I can't comment. If we do choose to stay here I shall update as and when. They are well known for low cost food and drink and you can find one in large towns and cities. I have visited the Victoria train station bar in London, the Gatwick airport bar, Liverpool airport, York Punch Bowl, York Postern Gate, Castleford Winter Seam, Manchester The Paramount and Leeds Beckett Bank. There are probably more that I can't remember. Each one that I have visited has looked different both inside and out but the standard of food and drink remains the same. It is pub grub, it's not fine dining have no doubt about it but it is tasty, filling and best of all cheap. The Menu The menu is much the same in each of the Wetherspoons pubs, the menu has got much bigger in recent months, here is some of what they have to offer: Breakfast - Full english, breakfast roll, pancakes and porridge. I only ever got scrambled egg on toast, thankfully it wasnt that awful scrambled egg you get with a skin on the top and water running out of it. It was about as ok as scrambled eggs get. Starters - Nachos, sandwiches, salad, soup and fishcakes. I've tried the nachos which were tasty but I'm not too much into starters. My friends and I got a sharing platter before which was just what we wanted and surprisingly large. We just fancied something to nibble on whilst having a few pints there was wedges and chicken wings, onion rings, chips, chicken strips, wedges and mushrooms. Probably a couple of other things but it was a while ago. We all enjoyed it and it came with a couple of dips. Mains - Gammon, egg and chips (not over adventurous but very nice), Carbonara with garlic bread (had lots of times beats many italian restaurants only beaten by frankie and benny's), scampi, chilli con carne, steak and chips, fish and chips (bigger portion than expected very nice), roast dinners, lasagne (standard lasagne), burgers and baked potatoes. There is much more it's quite an extensive menu these days. I was there a couple of weeks ago I got steak and kidney pudding which was on the small side but had a good bit of meat in it and was very nice, my friend had sweet chilli noodles (vegetarian) and really enjoyed them but again it was a bit on the small side. Desserts - cheesecake, ice cream, fudge cake and apple pie or crumble with a choice of ice cream or custard. There is also a childrens menu which also has quite a big variety on it in comparison to a lot of places there are pastas, roasts and chip dishes. My friend is a vegetarian and used to avoid eating in pubs and tended to go to more restaurants due to the lack of vegetarian options but she was impressed with the range last time we went. The menu is informative on what is suitable for vegetarians and vegans, it also contains calorie information and allergy advice. Wetherspoons also do special offers and food nights. They were having tasting nights the week after we went last but unfortunately we didn't make it. On Tuesdays they have steak nights, Thursday is curry night and Sunday has to be roast day! The portions aren't huge but they are not so small that you'd still be hungry or want to complain about them. The price is good you'd get a nice meal for 5 or 6 pounds. The burger and chips with a pint is only 4.95. I went with my mother and aunt and we got 3 meals a dessert and 2 bottles of wine for just over 20 pounds. Another thing I liked was the prices were the same in the airport and rail station branches where often other hike them up. They have a wide selection of drinks, lots of lager and ale choices, a good few wines and champagnes and they also do pitchers and glasses of cocktails. This summer a pitcher of pimms is only 5.99. Most pints are around £2. Overall wetherspoons is good for everybody whether you just want something to eat, just want a drink or both. It is a family friendly pub too it would be good for the whole families early on although some of them get a bit rowdy if there's any big football matches on and the later the evening gets. The only problem I ever had was at the Postern Gate Wetherspoons in York. The place is very large and has a big outdoor beer garden but it was quite busy when we went and we ended up sitting on high stools eating our dinner in between two tables of hen parties. The table was also near a door which wouldn't close on it's own so the food went cold and we just got sick of leaving the table to get up and close it. In a Wetherspoons this size there is no reason not to have a designated dining area up until a certain time, it was only 6pm. Also, they brought my peas and gravy out a good 7 or 8 minutes after the meal. On this occasion the place was extremely busy so I wouldn't let me put it off in the future. If you haven't yet been to a Wetherspoons, find your nearest one and give it a bash with the peace of mind of knowing that even if it's not 10/10 it's not going to break the bank! Read the complete review |
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The London Oak (Weston-super-Mare, Somerset)
by xxfoxyredxx Living in the heart of Weston Super Mare town centre I am a stones throw away from the pubs and nightlife and the town isn't all that big making it handy to get about. Quite often my parents come to visit me from Coventry, where I grew up to see me and where I am living now and they stay in hotels and things as I don't have much room ... here and so we end up going pubs for drinks and something to eat and so on rather alot. This pub is very, very close to where I live and not only have I been here with my family I have been here with friends too and actually last New Years Eve I had a couple of drinks here as well so I'm pretty known in the place! Last time I went was yesterday in fact! The Pub: So the pub is situated in the town centre as I mentioned earlier situated near the Brit Bar, Cheers Bar, Shooters and a couple of other pubs. Above this place there is a Mexican restaurant called Mescaleros which has a separate entrance to it plus stairs within the pub to get up there should you choose to however this bar does have its own menu too and is a cheaper to eat here than up there unless you hit an offer they run and its a place I haven't been into as yet! The room is small with a small area of seating outside and not many seats inside. The decor is clean and simple with light oak throughout including beams and different sized tables and chairs and its all on one level with male and female toilets though I havent seen a disabled one oddly enough. The bar is small but adequately stocked with all the usual beers on tap, bottles, lots of alcopops and hot drinks available. Half a lager is about £1.60 with a pint being double that, shorts at about £3.00 each and coffees and the likes being a couple of quid. There never seems to be any drinks offers on and it tries hard to be a civilised establishment. Staff here are really nice though the wait to be served can be long as it does get busy especially at weekends. The reason for this is because alot of the local bars are more appealing to the younger crowd this actually appeals more to mid age ranges and families in the evenings though don't get me wrong this place can get really rowdy! There is a juke box in here and lots of speakers and a couple of tvs. The other night me an my parents were the only ones in there and the music was literally blaring out and with so many speakers in their we couldn't find a quieter spot which was annoying! Sometimes this place is so noisy that I can here the noise in my flat however if you sit outside providing the weather is ok that's a much better option. The food on the menu is again sandwiches, jacket potatoes and main meals with a fair bit of choice. Sandwiches start at about a fiver a time, main meals which are burgers and grills and the likes can go up to £13.00 a plate and there is plenty of choice with sausage dinners to steak, pies and chicken dishes with Vegetarian options again though the wait can be long on food but its always good and there's always plenty of it. With not many staff ever really on the place can becomes cluttered and untidy and the place is very small, something my mum doesn't really like and they really should turn the music down a bit midweek when your only people in there but it really is a nice enough little bar, open till midnight in week and gone 2am weekends (half ten on a Sunday and usually there is live music on) and its a good place to start off drinking with pals if moving on around the town. There is parking nearby which will cost you an arm and leg, its close to the Playhouse theatre being on the same street so handy to everything really but beware if you don't like noise this place probably wont float your boat! Read the complete review |
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