No visit to the West Midlands is complete without a visit to Ma Pardoes, or, as it is really called, the Old Swan Inn. Set on a busy main road in Netherton, it is quite a wonder, being one of the original remaining four home brew pubs when CAMRA was formed. Again I have been quite a few times, firstly on one of the Mystery Coach trips run by a noted CAMRA member in Manchester, Ken Birch
aka Ben Chestnut. Now why these trips were down as "mystery" I don't know, as we always ended up in the Bull and Bladder and Ma Pardoes. Then the legendary Mrs P was alive and kicking, but alas no longer so. For those interested in the history of the pub, there is as complete a go at it as you are likely to come across - here.The main difference between these far off days and now is that the pub was extended in 1986 and now has somewhat oddly, two front doors and a set of rambling rooms behind the famous bar where a huge cast iron stove, now behind protective mesh still dominates, along with the stunningly grand ceiling with its swan motif. The large snug on the left, complete with piano, would be a splendid place to take someone else's wife for a drink, as indeed would be any of this maze of marvellously old fashioned rooms. Wandering around it, with its faded Victorian and Edwardian grandeur made you want to settle in and wait for the sing song. Atmosphere in buckets and you just can't manufacture that. It comes through time and people.
We sat in the old main bar and listened to the thick Black Country accents bantering with each other. The beer is still brewed here, but perhaps doesn't reach the heights of Holden's or Batham's, though Ma Pardoe's Original at 3.5% is still worth drinking and the pub worth visiting for its own unique feel. No particular warm welcome here, but an easy acceptance of us wandering round looking at the various rooms. They must be used to it.We only stayed for one here, but I still recommend it.
Back in the day when The Little Pub Company was still going, we used to visit here and the Vines for pre or post lunch pints when venturing out to eat in one of their pubs with friends from the area. Who can forget the Cradley Sausage Works, Desperate Dan Pie Factory or Mad O'Rourkes? Not me. They had a motto on all their receipts. "Please drink harder and faster" Wouldn't be allowed now.
Remarkably, the Old Swan is owned by Punch Taverns.
The beer, like that at the All Nations, was always just an easy-drinking light mild and never particularly challenging.
ReplyDeleteI remember my first visit as a callow student when I mistakenly went into the old tiny snug at the rear left rather than the main bar.
I wonder, given the general decline in the pub trade, whether the rooms in the extension are ever anywhere near fully used now.
I must have lucked out when I visited last autumn as I found both the bar staff and the regulars in the main bar very friendly and helpful but then they cottoned on to the fact that I was writing about the place. Overall I preferred the Original light mild of all the beers on offer, unusual for me as I'm generally more of a dark man. It was impressively busy for a midweek afternoon too so I think they are filling the space. For the record, although it was a brewpub when CAMRA was formed, brewing was suspended between 1993 and 2000. It also plays a role in the very convoluted history of Pitfield's and Dark Star.
ReplyDeleteOh I didn't mean a hostile welcome just not as chatty as some other places.
ReplyDeleteIn music usual way I prefer to leave the detail of history to those who are more inclined to it. I like to link to the detail rather than provide in other than in broad brush terms.
Lazy I know.
Delete music. Insert my.
ReplyDeleteDelete music. Insert my.
ReplyDeleteOh I didn't mean a hostile welcome just not as chatty as some other places.
ReplyDeleteIn music usual way I prefer to leave the detail of history to those who are more inclined to it. I like to link to the detail rather than provide in other than in broad brush terms.
Lazy I know.