RAY HALL: 1230 hours and our intrepid duo meet at Base West Bromwich armed with digital cameras, beer money and a random sense of direction. The 451 bus is assigned to take us towards Scott Arms with Captain D9 making the call to disengage at Ray Hall Lane amongst the open spaces of Sandwell Valley. Putting D9’s navigation skills to the test, we risked peril by wandering into unknown territory. Carefully avoiding the prospect of a sewage farm, we ventured through woodland and flanked motorway slip roads to reach the towpath of the Tame Valley Canal.
- Bald Spot at the Yew Tree -YEW TREE: 1330 hours and the Captain’s radar was twitching frantically so it was necessary to leave the towpath and enter the nearby Yew Tree housing estate. Top target here was the Yew Tree Sports and Social Club, although sadly we’d arrived a couple of weeks too late to actually test out the facilities. D9 is almost inconsolable as we survey the forlorn club building awaiting its fate at the hands of the bulldozer. With the club no more, the only drinking establishment left in the vicinity is the Archers on Thorncroft Way, so that will have to do for our opening half of ale. A quick look at Redwood Way’s shops is required as a future marker before we avail ourselves of a 405 bus connection, the Captain keeping a low profile once on board rather than risk being spotted by a scary creature known simply as ‘the wife’.
STONE CROSS: 1400 hours and D9 feels safe enough to show his face again once we reach Stone Cross, so we disembark to refuel courtesy of the Black Country Chippy. A friendly craft in the form of the 410 bus can then lead us to Wednesbury, although the timings are less than robust despite the alleged presence of blue lines with large thicknesses.
- The Wednesbury Closet - WEDNESBURY: Reloading the data from our January mission, we aim to penetrate the areas we had failed to frequent on that previous occasion. A well-hidden windmill peeks out near Squires Walk, and then we can take a measurement on the Woden just down from St Bartholomew’s Church. The old gates of the Patent Shaft Works - a former factory that once stood where Wednesbury Parkway is now located - are noted as a roundabout feature, plus the Captain’s Closet Collection is boosted by a specimen on The Shambles. The Turks Head has certain charms even if it means drinking more ‘bleach’ (Captain D9’s technical term for anything that isn’t real ale), but our prized find is the Coachmaker’s where we detected a vintage tiled sign for Woodhall’s Brewery along with a largely unchanged interior that looked like it had a few stories to tell.
- The Coachmakers Arms -PRIESTFIELD: The Wednesbury leg of our voyage had not been quite as dive-infested as potentially feared so we now plotted a course for Bilston. The Midland Metro is probably the most futuristic mode of transport we have available (at the risk of seriously stretching the imagination), and it’ll do right now to power us to Priestfield. Passing the Ward Street site of the former Priestfield railway station (the current Metro stop is in a slightly different location), we find our way down to the Old Bush and the Orange Tree, two pubs curiously arranged slap bang next door to each other, effectively within the same overall building. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of a catchment area so it’s no surprise to see that the Old Bush has shut down, but the Orange Tree soldiers on having been taken up by Black Country Traditional Inns - it’s not a bad place really so we wish it well. Sadly we were less enthusiastic about the Gate, especially when the Captain copped for the most expensive round of the expedition.
- A Happy Wanderer -STOWLAWN: Following the shock damage to D9’s wallet, some emergency resuscitation was needed to avoid any diplomatic incidents. Back in the days when the Captain had hair, he remembered riding past a pub on the Stowlawn estate so off we trooped in search of it, the hunt assuming critical proportions when some familiar bladder complaints began to resurface. Luckily we made it to the Happy Wanderer just in time, the pub having an old Ansell’s vibe that felt like it hadn’t changed much since the 1970s.We expect to come across the occasional strange lifeform during our missions but the pub’s resident mannequin still managed to spook and surprise us; thankfully the beer wasn’t so other-worldly in passing D9’s rigorous scrutiny. Our sweep of the estate also included a look at the Villiers Arms, standing proudly on Villiers Square, and a nod in the direction of the former Bilston Leisure Centre on Prouds Lane, recently replaced by the new facility named after Bert Williams.
BILSTON: Our final efforts at reconnaissance are pitched around Bilston Town Centre. The Olde White Rose is always an excellent place to land, especially when there’s the promise of a Backyard Blonde to contend with, whilst the timber-framed Greyhound & Punchbowl reeks of history with carved mantles, moulded ceilings and a roaring fire very much befitting its reputed history as Stowheath Manor. Every intergalactic operation must come to a close though and we just have time to beam into the Swan for our last dose of lubricant before the Captain is summoned away by Mission Control.
- Cheers! -As afternoons go, this was a rocket-powered outing blasting around some interesting corners of the Black Country. The pubs might not have hit the heights but there were some good bases covered and we now have that little bit more knowledge about the West Midlands universe…
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