Stourbridge Favorites

Favorite thing: In the Crown centre shopping area, a new feature has materialised.

A unique clock that is really in line with Stourbridge's past has been errected. When the hour chimes, figurines move around the clock.

One of the moving clock features is a model of the 'Stourbridge Lion' which was the first locomotive to run in the US, having been shipped there after being built in Stourbridge.

Fondest memory: This is definately a good thing that the past is being put on display so that the young can apreciate that Stourbridge has a HISTORY beyond just the wine bars, nightclubs and Mac Donalds.

Favorite thing: My favourite thing about Stourbridge is that it is the place where I was born and lived for about 45 years. I have seen it change in many ways over the years. Stourbridge is only a short distance from Colley Gate, Halesowen, where I live now at present.

Fondest memory: I don't really miss Stourbridge as I visit on an almost daily basis when I go to the pub that I used to help run, the Old Crispin, for a drink. (Until moving to Spain, that is).

I worked behind the bar at that black & white half timbered pub, (The Mitre - pictured), for a few years as well.

Favorite thing: One thing that Stourbridge isn't lacking in is pubs, so here are a selection of my favourites.

For the best beer try the Cat at Enville (a few miles out of Stourbridge on the A458 to Bridgenorth). It stocks Enville ales brewed in the village using honey. It also serves great food. The Forrester's Arms also serves Enville Ale and can be found on the Bridgenorth Road as it leaves Stourbridge.

The Bird in Hand, 147 Hagley Road, is an unpretentious traditional pub the likes of which are fast dying out. Although the Bank's Ale isn't a real beer it's pleasant enough.

One of Stourbridge's most famous pubs is the Labour in Vain (on the corner of Redhill and Brook Road in Oldswinford) the pub's windows have a politically incorrect etching of two women trying to wash a black man white (labouring in vain). The windows are listed but the pub sign has been removed to rpevent undue offence. The pub itself has gone downhill in recent years and has been abandoned to big screen football and the youth market. However the lease is up for sale so things may improve.

Finally there's the Seven Stars, just down the road from the Labour in Vain and opposite Stourbridge Junction railway station. As well as excellent food the bar serves Theakstons and guest real ales.

To those mentioned could be added dozens of other good pubs in Stourbridge. Those in the town centre can get busy (and rough?) on Friday and Saturday nights, but all the others would score above average on my drink-ometer.