Banks's Sunbeam at the Stiles, Wolverhampton

The festival venue is a colourful one. It’s split into two rooms and there’s also a few studios open for local artists to showcase their work. More familiar people are piling in but I’ve been here for a few hours and I’ve more or less finished the beers that I want to sample. John is up for giving me a local tour. I’m about ready for a change of scenery so we walk around the corner to The Stiles. It’s an old red-brick Banks’s pub with a large beer garden and a bowls field. It’s been taken on by a Polish couple who are big on building a sharing and caring community and Polish cuisine is served alongside regular staples. Inside it’s a bit dreary; there’s green walls with Victorian photographs in frames on display. The bar is quite narrow, but outside there is a terrace with colourful canvasses on the walls and blooming hanging baskets drape down from above. We sit outside and watch a local bowls match take place in the sunshine.