Punters Not Fazed By Bass Drama In Three Horseshoes

My final leg of the Fazeley 2019 tour (sponsored by Coral bookmakers) -as the ultimate holiday destination near Tamworth – saw me shoehorn myself into a tiny little boozer with a cracking atmosphere.

354 – Three Horseshoes B78 3RD is a single roomed traditional classic pub that won’t need many people in to feel as though it’s full.

(Coral in the background, new sponsors of the blog!)

As it happens, the place was heaving on a Saturday afternoon and standing room only as I arrived just in time to see a bloke in full West Bromwich Albion away kit regalia along with his son and other half shout “Yes, c’mon the Baggies” to no one in particular as the final whistle blew on their victory at Villa.

It was loud enough to get a few disconcerted looks but this place seemed relatively upbeat and a good natured “can we kick that f***er out, he should be banned” to the landlady with a resigned grin, was as much response as his outburst got.

There was no standing on ceremony as, points in the bag, he was off with his clan leaving the rest of the pub fraternity to consider more important things than Aston Villa defeats such as the opportunity to consume Bass!

There was also Scarlet Macaw (Oakham) on but in some places you just KNOW it’s going to be good, and so it proved here. I’m not going to spend too long on this subject, suffice to say it was excellent but Anheuser-Bush Inbev, who are the current hosts of this legendary brand have got right up the nose of the current chair of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Pete Brown.

I thought it was Rich Coldwell in disguise when I read the article in the Nottingham Drinker  which was reproduced from his blog and he makes some terrific points, which are hard to disagree with about this oft neglected brand.

Anyway, the upshot is you can expect to see some Bass beermats soon as they begin a ‘rebrand’ of a product that doesn’t need it.

(more betting slips)

However, the punters in this place, which included Hi-viz jackets on a Saturday afternoon, were drinking everything and anything like all proper pubs should with the betting slips being pored over to great effect.

The landlord was chatting about Middlesbrough’s impending fixture at Blackburn and normal order was restored with Sky Sports on the TV and no one talking about the Six Nations.

There was a good crew of smokers outside and it had proper old skool opening hours of midday to 3pm in the week followed by a 6.30-11pm with all dayers on Friday-Sunday.

Slightly longer than your average Micro boozer but this place is doing a roaring trade and knows its audience.

My cue to leave was when one of the bar flies broke wind which cleared about a ten metre radius but that shouldn’t detract from how friendly people were and happy to talk.

Excellent beer in all three boozers in Fazeley with a couple of other pub possibilities as well whilst the locals are great value.  I didn’t pay more than £1.75 for a half in any of the Fazeley trio (sounds like an eighties electro band) of pubs and they all looked as though they would get livelier as the evening progressed.  Well worth a trip down the Birmingham/Fazeley canal.