Wolverhampton – Endless British Pub Crawl (Part 3)

Bus Runs Route 79 West Brom to Wolverhampton

I’m tellin’ ya, folks, this bus run don’t get no respect.

I went out Saturday intending to finish the 79 route (see Bus Route Runs for details on the project) but an extra, new road on a roundabout and my general dearth wrt sense of direction left me with a little more to pick up on Sunday (18 Feb 2024) so there you have it.

The 79 is Jimi’s most hated AND favourite route as it is the only one he’s been on (he seems to like the bus) but it takes him to the vet. We might try a tram ride together sometime, though, just for the journey.

For me, the 79 is the easiest way to get back to the buurt when laden with groceries in Wednesbury, hardware in Hilltop, or when the weather is shit in central West Brom. So, I’ve never really seen a lot of the sites along the route above Darlaston.

The architecture — industrial, commercial, and residential — changes rapidly all along the path and winter makes it easier to inspect a lot of it. It may be worth revisiting some of it in the summer for comparison.

The map shows the first 9 runs to cover new segments of the route although 2 of the early ones would have been covered by the other 7 easily.

The Red Lion, Wolverhampton

Pub #2677:

Last week I finally made some time to stop in the Red Lion in Wolverhampton, mid run whilst working on a segment of the 79 (and others) bus route. I took my Carling into the room with a pool table and two teles but the teles were out of synch by a tenth of a second or so (fucking digital tv) causing a disturbing echo effect. Nonetheless, a couple of brave souls came in and shot a few racks and chatted a bit.

This was the first pub I’ve been in since around Christmas although I’ve passed a bunch of new candidates on the bus route runs. The novelty is wearing off. Or, a part of me is dying, I’m not sure.

The Builders Arms, Wolverhampton

Pub #2660:

It was a Friday after work and I had only found one cut benchmark on my Ordnance Survey hunt. The light was already fading and I opted for a beer stop at the Builders Arms. They had Banks’ Sunbeam on tap so I had one of those in honour of the motors company.

The house is vast — essentially a giant maze of dining rooms — but the bar area, itself, is cosy and there was the first real fire of the year. And, there was the World Cup Cricket match between South Africa and Pakistan for which it was obvious who the home team in the room was.

The Hog’s Head, Wolverhampton

Pub #2655:

I put off visiting the Hog’s Head because the website makes it look like an overpriced, prefabricated shithole geared toward students and yuppie scum.

You should always follow your instincts.

Soaked in Wolverhampton, Sightseeing Nonetheless

I was in Wolverhampton for an appointment one afternoon in October and rounded out the day with a nice walk around areas I had not previously visited. The rain was cold and relentless but I persisted in chasing OS marks with little success but the rewards of some new landmarks.

A few paces from the so called National Spiritualist Church (the most impressive bit from the outside was the ironmongery) were the famous Steps to Nowhere, an architectural feature I have run up on several times in the West Midlands:

Both of these were across the road from the Billy Wright Stand of Molineux Stadium which sits in the campus of the University of Wolverhampton despite being dedicated to professional sport.

All of those features were near missing marks I sought out and somewhat remote from the solitary one I did find over on Great Western Street, a lonely lane near some factories.

But, I had things to do the rest of the afternoon (including a stop for some dry clothes) and the brutalist clock I spied on my way back to Wolverhampton Station reminded me of transience, actual and architectural. Even in this backward locality.

The Leaping Wolf, Wolverhampton

Pub #2654:

Even in most heavy rains in central England, you have a good 10-12 minutes before your sweatshirt, trousers, and shoes soak through. At 30 minutes in the heaviest rainfall I had braved for awhile, I was finishing my Shaho’s Kebaba (mmmm-mmmmm good!) in the doorway of the Leaping Wolf prior to entering.

“Awful out,” I amateurishly small-talked. I hadn’t understood a word of the Black Country gibberish from the bartender, either, so we were even when he said, “say again.” I held my hands at my damp hair and wiggled the fingers downward; “it’s rainy, like.” “Oh, ay, and it’s cold in here.” “Not at all, you should try out there,” I said, whipping my arm toward the door spraying an arc of droplets. “It’s damp in here, too,” he added. “Sorry about that.” “Say again?” I shook my head and moved over near the cold radiator to eavesdrop on some of the sparsely seated others.

Shaho’s Kebab, Wolverhampton

Truly outstanding. No elephant leg, no chips…just meat on skewers and a charcoal pit with pita and piles of fresh tomato, parsley, and sweet onions. Mine was lamb chunks and I could easily have stood there eating these one after another until hospitalised for overdoing the meal.

Trust me, you NEED to go here and eat frequently. You are a fool if you don’t.

The Goose, Wolverhampton

Pub #2645:

The Goose is a spectacular building that could easily hold 500 souls. Three of us plus the staff ‘populated’ this desert the day I popped in.

The bus shelters outside are convenient. They also obscure a magnificent façade. These are not responsible for the odours inside but either they or said funk may go some ways to explaining the human desert this represents.

The Prince Albert, Wolverhampton

Pub #2644:

The Albert has never been open when we passed through so on this occasion it was strange to spot the door ajar as I made my way from the station. It was even stranger — Overlook Hotel strange — to find such an elegant bar in this forlorn location.

Not least of which the lack of a living soul inside. Eventually, a non-wraithlike bartender appeared and served me up. We chatted a moment (they had only been open a couple of weeks, so that explains the seemingly sudden appearance) and he directed me to the garden where a couple of other loners sat.