Fownes Crispin's Ommer at the Jolly Crispin, Upper Gornal

This pub is set on the hillside of beautiful Upper Gornal. There’s a regular bus service from Sedgley and you can do a great tour of Black Country pubs by bus. In previous visits, the pub’s beer garden overlooked the rest of the valley, but this year the view has been spoiled because of houses being built below. Inside, the pub has a large lounge with a traditional log fire and a back room which also acts as a restaurant and there’s a corridor with facilities linking the two, while the bar sits in the middle serving both rooms. The only trouble here is the slow service as there’s usually just the one member of staff. Beers are usually from local brewers and are on display on a chalk board. I always like to look at the pump clips though as you’ve got a better chance of recognising whether you’ve had the beer or not, and it’s more up to date than the chalk board too. There’s also a brewery that’s behind the pub and we got to visit this on our most recent visit.