16th to 18th FEB ... Midlands Movements

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
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As this is little over 6 weeks away now I thought I’d share some plans a few of us have for the Thursday/Friday/Saturday on the dates above.

Thursday 16th
I’m planning to get to Birmingham around 1100/30 then head down to Worcester for an afternoon/early evening crawl there … back to Birmingham maybe 1900/2000 for a curry and then some city centre bars

Friday 17th
CAMRA winter ales fest at Burton … probably head over there for 1200 or whenever opening is
Head back to Birmingham for a few late ones … maybe break away from Burton 2000 or so

Saturday 18th
Birmingham crawl … meet at Briar Rose / Wellington then head to H&T and Digbrew (will reserve a table for pizza) … then back to town. Reckon we will hit Burning Soul as both visits last year we failed due to 1. getting all the way there to find it closed due to Covid and 2.) timing out

Not sure there’s much to add … feel free to join us for some, all, or stay at home / go elsewhere

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Saturday sounds interesting and possible for me, train strikes and general milieu of life stuff permitting.

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I arrive in Birmingham on the Wednesday. Happy to join the Worcester crawl on Thursday. Will be in Birmingham until Monday (typical schedule for an OAP).
Considering Sheffield before or after Birmingham, open to further suggestions.

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Hmmm. I have a plan to visit that area around Feb-March. My 1st idea was Dublin and Belfast. And if I can’t get normal price tickets then some new counties in England. Birmingham, Staffordshire, Worcestershire would all be new to me.
Getting there probably won’t be as easy as I would like, but you made me think!

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Heard that Dig Brew has closed or is closing although yet to hear this confirmed from the brewery.

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Bad Seed going as well.

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I noticed they opened a tiny (and I mean THE tiniest) bar opposite new st station last Summer, also selling ice cream. Was never bowled over by their beer. I might be wrong but I think they were taken over by the current owners, just before the re-brand. Obv sad to see a brewer go, but never felt they got into their stride.

Sad about Bad Seed. Used to always look out for their beers in my early days of beer discovery.

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Hi,

Count me in (Friday and Saturday). Any rough idea of the itinerary/places we will visit on saturday during the Birmingham Crawl?

Regarding the travel, I read that there is a train strike in the UK. Should I buy the train tickets now or wait a couple of weeks? Any suggestions?

full itinerary as follows:
Wednesday: Stansted - Cambridge - Oakham - Leicester
Thursday: Leicester - Derby - Burton
Friday: Derby - Burton
Saturday: Derby - Birmingham
Sunday: Birmingham - London - Gatwick

Cheers,
Alex.

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Itinerary loosely as i posted above … digbrew sadly gone so will work out a tweak

As for train strikes… nothing on our dates presently … 14 days notice required

If nothing announced in 8 days time we should be good

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Fleshing this out with a little more certainty now that we have avoided rail strikes for this weekend

Thurs 16th

I’ll be at New St just after 1100 to grab tickets to Worcester … aiming for the 11.50 fast and direct train

Time for a few quickies … Cherry Reds seems the only place near to New St that serves this purpose

Worcester circular starting at the Firefly (and … NOT grab a burger)

UPDATE … had a reply from them yesterday … kitchen doesn’t open on lunchtimes at present, as it did when I visited back in September last year … they are open from 1700 for food so may build our crawl round this as a last stop.

Although Bull Baiters inn (#1 rated venue) doesn’t open till 1700 and could lead us back to the Craft Inn by Foregate St station and straight onto a train home … so thinking we may have to skip those mighty fine burgers.

Heading back to Brum 1830/1900 and do a few city centre venues

Fri 17th

Likely meet in the Briar Rose 1000 ish then grab either 1049 or 1103 train to Burton for the festival

Head back to Brum as and when but no later than 2100 into Brum so we can hit Halton Turner taproom as a priority

UPDATE … seems HT haven’t reopened on Fridays post Xmas and may not do so until April

I messaged them last week and won’t be heading there unless I get confirmation of opening from them so will hit a few city centre bars instead

Sat 18th

Original crawl has been revised due to Digbrew having sadly closed down and also having learnt that Halton Turner is Friday only at present (hence hitting them after Burton) … so nothing for us in Digbeth anymore!

Meet Briar Rose from 0930

Move to the Wellington at 1000

Perhaps post office vaults next then Uber out to Stirchley

Awaiting confirmation but Attic and Birmingham Brewing Co taprooms should be open from 1300

UPDATE … Birmingham brewing open at 12 … no food truck booked (yet) so need to check in with them beforehand … happy for us to order our own food in if no food truck

Attic open from 1300 … food truck is Zampa Tapas

Cork and Cage is in between the two, opens at 1300 so will also take this in

Uber to Burning Soul taproom around 1530 (confirmed open till 1800) then walk back to town via the Wolf … likely head to North Brewing then finish at Tilt

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This sounds solid, thanks. A lovely mix of new ticks and old friends on Saturday for me.

Too bad about Halton Turner, was looking forward to them (& can’t do Friday). A bit worrying that they’re cutting hours so much.hopefully not permanent.

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yes I thought that re: Halton Turner not being open

we did a crawl in Brum the very same weekend last year on the Saturday and were able to do Robertos bar, Digbrew and Halton Turner back to back between 1300 and 1600

2 gone and one not open on a Saturday now!

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Yes, plus the White Swan which wasn’t a craft pub but had a good handful of casks on plus an interesting keg. Still a handful of decent-ish destinations in Digbeth proper but a shadow of what it was even a few months ago.

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Re: Halton Turner

Are they still open on Friday evenings as per comment on their Facebook page?

https://www.facebook.com/HaltonTurner/posts/pfbid0CqUwNsSviN74G4KTtbqBY1cv27kW9irbzHWniiGFDfTTSJnooBW8ho9mJGa44CJkl?comment_id=737964620983932&locale=en_GB

Will try and make some of the Saturday crawl if I can.

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Yes on my radar and already suspicious

When i visited them this time last year they replied to my message to confirm hours almost straight away

I messaged them last week to check if they planned on reopening saturday any time soon

Message was read same day but no reply as yet

Im not planning to waste a half hour round trip to Digbeth without confirmation but that FB post certainly looks like a definite no now

I can understand small businesess frustrations in hard times but ignoring very simple messages doesnt help make friends and gain future business

Attic and Birmingham brewing co both replied promptly

In fact the food truck people at Attic, Zampa tapas, even replied … im reading prompt responses as a guage as to how healthy and connected businesses are at present … rightly or wrongly

The Tapas is on from opening btw for anyone interested

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Thanks!
Expected arrival 09:55h (Birmingham New Street), so I guess i will meet you at The Wellington.

Cheers,
Alex.

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Arrived at the Briar Rose. Have yet to plan the evening.

I have a handful of beers to share or donate any time this week if anyone is interested. Just let me know when/where:
Elveden Thomas Paine imp pilsner 750ml
Struise Clash of the Titans
A random polotmavy - Petra Voka Bohemia Regent
Something spontaneously brewed in one of the two coolships in Ireland, just 330ml
India Trading Co Lukla from - you guessed it - Italy

Forums hard to access on my mobile, Whatsapp or Signal easier, bonventre at yahoo dot com

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Bring a bottle to split on the train to Worcester tomorrow, just a small one mind, only yourself, Rich The Villain and I, we will bring some also.
Save the larger formats for the train to Burton or on Saturday as there will be a bigger crowd of us.

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I need to find a way to get back for one of these epic weekends. I’ll have to settle for April when the Brits once again invade the USofA!

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there’s always space-A. Rotator into Mildenhall