- An Artistic Welcome -
Trip Log: Wednesday 3rd June 2026 brings a Worcestershire outing that has been arranged to celebrate my latest birthday. As guest of honour and chief organiser it's imperative I attend but the number 10 bus is conspicuous by its absence and I'm going to be late for the train. Heavy Perton rain is the last thing I need when traipsing to Tettenhall Wood but the other chaps have at least assembled as instructed, collectively catching the 10:50 down from Birmingham. By a process of on-the-hoof recalibration, I progress via Kidderminster to belatedly reach Droitwich at 11:52, greeted by my patient Chip colleagues and an interesting railway station mural which adorns the Hall Brothers accident recovery garage on Union Lane. Kissing couples, lively deer and racing cars all feature as I apologise for being delayed. Let the trip proper commence!
- What remains of the Raven -
Droitwich is a spa town in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire and is a noted site of salt production, with rock salt and brine having been extracted since Roman times. We skip over onto Ombersley Street as our gateway into the town centre, spotting the police station and a selection of 'Hair by...' stylists along the way. There's a considerable promotional presence for the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, now in its second year and a worthy tribute to the legendary performer of alternative comedy who was born and raised locally. Victoria Square ordinarily would be an attractive spot with the town's library close at hand, but the crumbling mass of what used to be the Raven Hotel is simply inescapable. A handsome timbered building that dated from the 16th century, it had been in a deteriorating condition for some years prior to suffering a devastating fire last August. The site is currently fully fenced off on safety grounds amidst hope of a community preservation project although restoration looks to be a huge task.
- Monarch's Way for His Majesty -
The Raven's sad status means part of St Andrew's Street is closed off so we nip through the adjacent shopping precinct to reach our first pub of the day. The Talbot is owned by Craddocks of Stourbridge and boasts an impressive townhouse frontage at the Old Town Hall end of High Street; internal signwriting suggests it used to be a Hanson's affair and the layout is pleasingly traditional with a front bar, rear restaurant and a curious slightly bulging central passageway. One glance at the ale range means Nick and I immediately home in on Monarch's Way - what else but that for our resident royal? - as a tasty smooth bitter. Scatter cushions featuring pet photographs are a novelty as we chat about cricketing prospects, forthcoming holidays and what our Mastermind specialist subjects would be. I'd probably opt for pop music of the 1950s and 1960s with Ken on FA Cup finals from the same era and Nick tackling the English Civil War, which just leaves Mr B... I'm not sure an encyclopedic knowledge of Warwickshire's recent batting collapses counts somehow!
- Stephen meets Spa Man -
One of Droitwich's most charming aspects is its so-called 'Wonky High Street' where buildings lean at strange angles, the effect of subsidence caused by salt mining. We admire some of the crooked doorways before proceeding at Ken's request to nearby Lido Park, home to an open air saltwater swimming pool which first opened in 1935. The water is heated to a pleasant 23 degrees (positively Mediterranean!) and is fed by natural brine, although we aren't tempted to go for a dip ourselves. Instead we investigate the wider park, meaning Stephen can make the acquaintance of the 'Spa Man' diving sculpture. The park has a fine bandstand (which is being used for some comedy festival performances) and offers fishing provision at Herriott's Pool; Droitwich's cricket and tennis clubs are also in the vicinity, a proper sporting enclave.
- Canalside Chips -
Lunch is in order although my preferred option of the Gardeners Arms on Vines Lane doesn't appear to be open. The Queens Fish Bar can ably step into the breach for our assorted orders involving roe, pies, battered sausage and even a lesser-seen fishcake. We munch these spoils at Vines Park beside the restored Droitwich Canal, albeit our chosen bench gets subjected to galeforce gusts and I have to scamper sharply to retrieve sheets of blown-away chip paper. A statue of St Richard - a 13th century Bishop of Chichester - takes pride of place along with a mosaic documenting Roman salt extraction activities. The tesserae spell out the inscription "Sal Sapit Omnia - Salt Flavours All" with Stephen agreeing that it augments his chips nicely.
- The Railway Inn -
A gentle stroll along the water's edge allows glimpses of Bridges 17, 18 and 19, all of which are short swingbridges carrying footpaths that link to the Saltway main road (although we note that No. 18 is locked out of use and not in the best of condition). Netherwich Basin is a pretty marina mooring base with narrowboats shimmering in the sunshine; the canal effectively runs parallel to the River Salwarpe at this point whereby they both cut a swathe across Vines Park. Emerging onto Kidderminster Road, we make the Railway Inn our second drinking port of call, enticed by the locomotive illustration adorning the pub's exterior. Alas we get a sense of things going through the motions here - we're the only customers and any real ale they did have has run out, resulting in halves of Guinness, Worthingtons and full fat Coca Cola. Daytime telly can't quite compensate for the underlying lack of atmosphere, as much as our entertaining perusals of the Rik Mayall festival programme make a valiant attempt to enliven matters.
- Mr May after a makeover? -
Onwards we trot via a Hampton Road underpass which connects directly onto Friar Street. Two prime watering holes await us within yards of each other, both of them ripe for revisiting after Nick and I first sampled them way back in May 2014. First up is the Hop Pole, a Good Beer Guide mainstay where I'm delighted to see Bathams is a permanent fixture, not just the Best Bitter but their Mild too. I'm feeling in a Mildish mood actually and the resultant pint is an object lesson in how to serve ale perfectly. Where the Railway suffered for lack of patronage, there are no such qualms here; nearly all of the tables are already taken so we squeeze into a raised section watched over by a large cuddly gorilla and another soft toy shrouded in a mass of comedic curly hair - is it a sloth, is it a meerkat, is it Ken in disguise? Who can tell!
- The Old Cock Inn -
When you haven't set foot inside an establishment for twelve years, it's tricky to gauge how much you expect to remember but the Old Cock Inn does evoke a nice sense of familiarity. My archive notes make mention of an ecclesiastical-styled main window and that is evidently still intact (and came from St Nicholas's Church apparently) while the ale range has branched out beyond the Marston's stable to include more guest brewers. Hobsons' Champion Mild is my pick, doing my bit to keep the traditional style alive, and we gather in a cockerel-themed front snug trying to outdo each other in the innuendo stakes. There are at least four different zones within the overall layout, all really nicely decorated, with a boardgame selection available for any dice-rolling enthusiasts. Having first been licensed in 1712, this is a beguiling hostelry in one of the oldest parts of Droitwich so together with the Hop Pole we are most impressed.
- A Rifleman's Finale -
Maintaining such standards will be a tough ask but I'm optimistic that the Arch Rivals micropub could get close, only to discover it isn't open yet. A vinyl records theme is detectable if peering through the windows but there are no signs of life and I'll just have to save it for a future jaunt. Deflated but not totally downhearted, we know the Riflemans Arms back by the railway station is an option having toyed with it as a meeting point earlier - it claims to start trading at 11am but it was closer to midday in this particular instance. Anyway, it's a typical sidestreet Banks's number with a plain bar side and slightly more comfortable lounge, a few sepia photos of the Royal Brine Baths and a handy train departures screen - I've been in better, I've also been in much worse. My closing tipple is a toss-up between Amber and Wainwright Gold with the former just about edging it, albeit sadly not brewed in Wolverhampton anymore. The 17:56 train is ideal in that it takes HRH direct to Warwick Parkway while the rest of us hop off at Smethwick Galton Bridge for our Wolverhampton connections. A testing day but good fun!
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