I’m breaking off from the Breaston trilogy as FA Cup Fever is set to hit St Andrew’s in 12 days’ time as Birmingham travel to St Andrew’s for their Fourth round tie with Coventry.
Following Birmingham is comedy gold as regular readers of this blog will know but playing an away game at your home ground is possibly a first for us and a seat in the away end will be a novel experience.
I’m not sure if The Roost will be able to cope as Cov fans have been using it as their home boozer and it was rammed before the recent Baggies game at 11:30 in the morning!
Home fans only will be an interesting concept but DIgbeth and the city centre should pick up a fair bit of extra trade.
If punters are looking for a drink they could probably do worse than head for the Brum stalwart of real ale 522 – The Wellington B2 5SN.
Hard to believe now but Brum wasn’t overrun with cask ale houses or craft emporiums at the turn of the century but the arrival of The Welly in December 2004 was a real boon and it has been the benchmark ever since.
It’s now got two floors and one of the electronic ale boards that keeps you posted on the options available.
You can still take your own food in, which isn’t quite so groundbreaking these days, and it’s in prime position next to Pint Shop Brum.
Pubs come and go and fall in and out of favour and whilst this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea it is always fairly full with a bustling city centre atmosphere and attracts all sorts of clientele from beer bores, beer buffs, office workers, white van man and pretty much anyone else you can think of.
It was our penultimate port of call on the way back from a long day at the Blues/Albion game back in December and, as such, this post won’t contain a hug amount of detail!
What I can say is….it was packed…
…whichever way you looked…
…the beer board was working well…
…and the HPA (Wye Valley) was excellent.
The atmosphere was terrific and like a proper pub should be…
Any beer tourist in Brum worth their salts will have been to The Welly but it was a long overdue visit and I might just pop in again after our march to Wembley picks up pace in 12 days time….
If you riot at the cup game can you get their ground closed. 🤔
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Ha ha😄 play the replay behind closed doors at St Andrews? Normal size crowd!
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Did you know that The Wellington sells more Oakham Citra than anywhere else? (according to their Twitter feed!)
Also, it’s a good job that it isn’t a 2-leg game vs Coventry…it would be terrible to lose on away goals…as happened many years ago (2003) to Inter Milan vs AC Milan in a Champions League semi-final!
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What a great stat!! I didn’t know that but I suspect we can lose heavily enough in one tie!
Citra is a great drink and that’s no surprise as Welly always full
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That’s a very observant piece on the Welly. It does divide opinion.
Been there half a dozen times since it opened and I vary between “oooh, shiny”, “ugh, smelly”, “oh, I’m pissed”, “too many beers” and “nice ales”.
The upstairs room helped.
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To be fair, this was the best night I’ve had in here. It consistently serves good beer and not going to win any aesthetic or trendy awards but a solid survivor!
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Didn’t realise the Welly was as ‘recent’ as 2004- longer in my head. The cup tie will be an odd experience. Hopefully it will be a cracking atmosphere despite every attempt in the last few years to downgrade the FA Cup.
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Before 2004 (sometime in the 80’s), I remember it being a Courage pub (when they did a swap with M&B and Ansell’s). When it opened as a real ale pub it was something of a revelation in Birmingham as the city was a bit of a real ale desert and it was immediately very popular (but not with me as I was then purely a lager drinker!)
With the recent upturn in real ale availability in Brum the Wellington has managed to hold it’s place as a prime attraction and is one of the few pubs that can justify having so many handpumps!
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A great bit of historical knowledge Pete, I didn’t know it was a pub beforehand….
Agreed, it’s holding its own well and I think it will stand the test of time
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It does seem to have been around for longer but a welcome addition as party pubs prior to its arrival…a bit of a game changer apart from Digbeth at that time.
FA Cup still got it for certain ties and I hope this is one of them
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Hi Beermat – giving the recent trend for away victories at St Andrews, you might be glad that Blues are in the other dressing room for a change. Very fond of the Welly, one of my Birmingham mainstays and holding its own among the newer arrivals. Cheers, Paul
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Love it!! You’re right…another away win is hopefully on the cards 😉 Welly is always reliable
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