Service was quick and friendly. Everyone's food looked beautiful, as well. I ordered the butter…read morechicken and it was so delicious!!

I am a bit disappointed with The Soak. There are two things that just, in a way, crashed my…read moreexperience: the food and, even more so, the service. The food was to its best, average. But it is understandable that the food isn't some sort of out-of-this-world-amazing food, as it is very cheap and you pretty much get what you pay for (and I am a poor student). The biggest problem was the service... a plate of pie took longer than 25 minutes to get to the table, and that was after we had to go up to the counter to ask what was going on. I am also assuming that the only thing the pie needed was to be heated in the oven, which made the whole waiting more frustrating. After the plate got to the table.... oh wait.... they forgot the gravy! Once again... a second trip to the counter to ask for the gravy. Getting utensils was another task since there weren't any left to grab.... hmmm... Anyways, if you want cheap average food that fills you with bad service (and a dirty table), then I recommend coming here.

Only visit for drinks as it is an ok setting but the food and management are a joke. I visit…read morerecently for a Sunday beef dinner with my mum who is recovering from a heart attack. I have never been so disappointed. I could genuinely cook a better dinner with my eyes shut and they are supposed to be professionals. The beef was terrible, roast potatoes were not fresh but frozen ones and broccoli was over cooked by about 10 minutes (mush). They had ran out of basic condiments I requested and told me they were on order. Nobody clearly does a stock check to keep on top of things. I spoke to Sharon the manager who huffed and puffed in my face and stormed off mumbling under her breath, never to return. Unacceptable behaviour from a manager offering a service that is far from satisfactory.

This is an Ember Inn pub, so pretty much follows the format of all other Ember Inns, but that's not…read moreto say that the Country Girl isn't worth a visit., not least because it is situated on the very border of Bourenville village, which is entirely without public houses to this day due to the Quaker beliefs of the founding Cadbury family, and as such is the only watering hole for some considerable distance! The food is always good and well prep rared and the service is friendly. The pub can get quite busy in the evenings with the local students and also in the after work hours as the nearby hospital staff drop in for a pint or two, and the Quiz Night on Tuesdays makes it nearly impossible to get a seat, with the food service obviously slowing down as a consequence. During the day, however, the Country Girl is genuinely nice spot for a few beers and a meal. There is a small and quiet beer garden to the rear, which is a great spot in the summer

Poor service. Poor atmosphere. Best to visit the Bristol pear or the soak. Macdonald's is only up…read morethe road. Since current management place has home downhill.

First impressions of this place it seems like a bit of a dump...but the atmosphere in here really…read morelifts the place up. The beer garden is definaitly the highlight of this boozer. It could do with a major facelift inside. The beer is very cheap.. £3 for a pint of Guinness. Has plenty of seating indoor and outdoor. A good place for a student hangout. Not tried the food yet but overall a good place to drink cheap beers.

Power tip: quaint pub with an adjoining burger and fries stand. Good bacon burger, and both the…read morespiced and Alabama fries were tasty. Staff were friendly

Built in the 1920s by the Mitchells & Butlers brewery this large, Grade II listed pub in the middle…read moreof the Birmingham suburb of Stirchley is something of a hidden treasure, despite being situated in plain sight along the busy Pershore Road. You step across a small car park and into the public bar, which is a large open space that can often get busy when there are sporting events on the big screen, but venture past this and The British Oak slowly starts to reveal its many charms over a series of side and back rooms, and an extensive garden. You may think that the place looks big when viewed from the front, but this really only tells half the story. When the pub was originally built, and for many years that followed, the side rooms were variously 'The Gents' Only Lounge', or 'The Smoke Room', but in 21st Century, smoke-free Britain these are now simply extra rooms within the same pub that offer quiet places for customers to drink, eat and talk, away from the bustle of the main bar. Move towards the back of the building and you could almost be in another pub entirely as you enter the small and cosy back bar, more than likely stepping over a sleeping dog or two in process. With an open fire and the genuine feel of a small, country boozer, this snug space is particularly welcoming on dark and damp Winter afternoons. To the side of the back bar there is yet another room, the last of the 5, which is variously used as a venue for family parties (particularly at weekends) or for any number of events promoted by Stirchley's burgeoning creative community, including film screenings and a comedy night. Whilst the 5 interconnecting rooms of the main building offer an impressive array of different pub experiences under the same roof, it is only once you move outside at the back of the pub that you really get a sense of the size of the place. The back door opens onto a large, covered area containing leather sofas and long tables that offer a rare chance to drink and smoke in comfort, before leading you down the steps into a seriously huge garden that is also the perfect afternoon sun trap. The garden has a slide and various other play equipment for the kids (and big kids) and even when busy, as it often is during the summer months, it never feels too crowded. Further still, and at the very back of the garden, there is the quintessentially English site of a manicured bowling green and wooden clubhouse, for this is the home of The British Oak Bowling Club. Listen to sound of polite applause and muted cheers drifting across the garden on summer afternoons and you will be a million miles away from the slow drudge of the Pershore Road. The British Oak is child and dog-friendly and offers a decent selection of wines, spirits and lagers, as well as a range of cask ales sufficiently varied to make it one of CAMRA's 'Real Heritage Pubs'. The food an offer ranges from good, honest pub grub - the gammon, egg and chips is particularly fine - as well as bar snacks, such as bowls of chips, sandwiches, pizzas and hot pies. In an age of homogenised chain pubs and regenerated urban boozers that often try too hard to impress, The British Oak is a welcome change to the norm. It's a traditional pub that is moving with the times but doing so at its own pace, thank you very much, and therein lies its charm. If you are looking for a place to sit and read a newspaper over a pint, or for somewhere to take family or friends, in summer or winter, I recommend a visit.

As a whole, I thought the pub was pretty average. There wasn't particulary anything wrong with it,…read morenor was there anything particularly right. If you're looking for beer, food and somewhere to sit then this pub will do nicely. You don't need shiny decorations and glass tables to enjoy a quality drink with good old British grub. There were a lot of families here as the menu is pretty extensive and easy on the old purse strings. Although my chips were cold and the food took about 45 minutes to come, the waitress was apologetic and seemed harmless enough.

You know what, this place is OK. The first time I went in here I was a little apprehensive as I'm…read moreaware that 'local' pubs can often have that rather threatening atmosphere of "You're not from round these parts are you?...." I'd never been here before and it isn't my local. However, no need to worry. This is a pretty relaxed, easy-going kind of place with a mixture of people - including some families, so I was guessing that it didn't really matter that I wasn't a familiar face. People seemed pretty relaxed and the staff were all friendly. In terms of food & drink - it's pretty standard, which is fine. Kind of what you expect from a general British pub. To be honest, there's not a lot to write home about, but that means there's not a lot to complain about either. So if you're in the Selly Oak/ Weoley Castle neck of the woods, why not pop in if you fancy a simple pint and some pub grub. They definitely don't bite :)

What a little treat! I lived in Harborne with a group of friends for 6 months and I think we must…read morehave ended up in here nearly every Sunday afternoon during that time. I love nothing more than going to a classic pub to relax after a hard weeks work (and even harder partying on a Saturday night!). If you love venues that have lots of character then you should go and check out The Bell Inn. It used to be a coach house and it still has a number of its original characteristics. It's been closed for a while but it reopened last week on the 30th May so just in time for Jubilee weekend. It offers a great selection of beers for the boys and wine for the girls and the food in delicious. You can't beat their house burger and a nice cold shandy whilst sat outside in their garden area. My best recommendation, get down there on a Friday evening for 241 cocktails from 5pm!

Resembling a country pub with its bowling green and views of nearby St Peters Church, The Bell is…read moreprobably my favourite pub in Harborne. Popular at weekends and especially on sunny days it consists of two rooms - a medium sized lounge, where people tend to eat and a much smaller snug, that houses photos of the bowling team through the ages. The bar is tiny so during busier times expect to queue but service is generally pretty quick. As well as real ale The Bell offers regular guest bitters and lagers and they serve food - which is pretty decent and reasonably priced. They hold regular quiz nights and have started to offer acoustic and open mic nights. They are also one of the nicer pubs in Harborne open on Christmas Day and after a few pints you may be tempted to join in with an impromptu carol service! Well worth a visit.

Slap bang in the central of the student haven, that is Selly Oak, the Indie Lounge somewhat…read moresurprised me on my first visit, with its friendly yet relaxed atmosphere and top quality service, it fast developed into one of my favourite drinking spots in the area. Serving drinks at relatively cheap prices in comparison to other places nearer to town, Indie Lounge is a perfect stop on a pub crawl or even as a quick refueling point if you were to be heading into town. Abiding by the student budget, this bar is extremely popular with students who attend University this side of the midlands, with a healthy buzz without being too overcrowded, Indie Lounge is definitely worth a visit by anyone who is in the Selly Oak area.

Out of all the bars along the Selly Oak student strip, I would say that Indie Lounge is the place…read moreto drink if you are low on money as I find it is satisfyingly cheap. I personally love Indie Lounge, as the bouncers are extremely friendly, funny and easy to get along with as well as the staff members that work there which gives off a pleasing and an adequate welcoming to the bar. I find that the only down point to Indie Lounge is that they don't have a dance floor to match the great music they play, however, you will find customers (mainly girls) dancing regardless of this aspect. A further fact that I find negative, especially when consuming many drinks, is that the girls' toilets always lack toilet roll. So I would recommend before going to Selly Oak's Indie Lounge as a girl, bring a small pocket size pack of tissues. Other than these critiques, I would say that Indie Lounge is my second choice of bars along the Selly Oak student strip.

Urban Village aims to offer the people of Selly Oak something a little different, when it's mostly…read moremore of the same: Acting like a trendy club, when it's more appropriately a large bar hiding behind a nightclub's décor. Not that there's a problem with this at all, as more often than not it's the best place to end up if you don't quite feel like making the trip in the town to have a tragic night on Broad Street, but still feel like you might want to get up, dance and embarrass yourself at some point. On warmer nights, you can quite easily spend your whole night downstairs in the beer garden/smoking area/paradise island. The furniture and fountains are a little bit tacky, but it certainly makes for a nice change as opposed to all the intentionally, overly 'British vibe and homely furniture' pubs. Upstairs however, there is a generously sized bar and a large open space which roughly works out as three medium sized rooms. As you enter, on your right there is a fairly tucked away 'lounge' area, the bar straight ahead is fairly empty to accommodate the hordes of those queueing, and off to the left there is a kind of, neither here nor there room where they have just chucked everything else: Pool tables, foosball, a pinball machine, a few tables dotted around, and small-ish open space which acts as a sort of dance floor and a small stage which is where you might find DJs, or an unfortunate band playing. Urban serves all the usual drinks at a competitive price, and like most pubs in the area operates a kind of discount system which merely involves flashing a student card: OK for those still studying, but for anyone else it can leave you feeling a bit cold. Trying too hard to be too eclectic, Urban is definitely not suited to live band nights. Perhaps more of an afterthought, it is no better or no worse than any other 'venues' on the Bristol Road (I would argue that there are none, in principle). Having said that, a jazz band that turned up one night were actually quite good, mostly choosing to ignore the venue's lame setup and deciding to play acoustically. DJs on the other hand, are perfect for the small space and it also serves as a place for 'quizmaster Na$' to sit on Tuesday nights in the horrifically named pub quiz 'Lethal Quizzle'. I went once with a group of friends and we'd been answering consistently, but sadly lost to two girls who had definitely cheated. Ah well. Urban is usually packed, so it's definitely not the best place to try and watch any football - it's arguably too noisy and not suited to watching live sport and I'd recommend The Soak or The Bristol Pear instead if you're thinking about it. Monday nights see 'Pounded', where the drinks are even cheaper and the place is a heaving mass of eager pre-drinking students and the occasional dodgy local. While it can get messy, this is arguably Urban Village's niche in the Selly Oak area: A warm up zone for the terrible events that will unfold later after getting a taxi in to town, or at least a compromise for those wise enough to not take the risk of hitting Broad Street.

Urban prides itself of being Selly Oaks only bar, with little competition from the likes of the…read moreSoak and Goose where you compete with diners for seats. It's a little hard to find, sandwiched between 2 shops is the entrance alleyway which leads on to a patio area with heaters and a big screen for live sport. From there, up a set of stairs, and you'll reach the main area with the bar in front of you. Decor is little more than a black room, but on a Monday and Tuesday drinks are dirt cheap and you can often find a comfy sofa. A definite contender for a pre drinks spot, but not the place if you're at all interested in conversation due to the escalating noise.

Despite being gifted with a great frontage, a lovely garden and smoking area, as well as a…read morespacious open plan interior, the Three Horseshoes miserably fails to be anything more than average. It's rare for me to be so negative in a review, especially in the opening sentence but I really do struggle to find much positive to say about the place - the drink selection and the food are nothing unusual, the music that is played is soul crushingly bland as well as seeming to repeat every hour. The staff try their level best which I always appreciate but there's very little that can be done in this situation to elevate the experience to anything special or unusual. When I go out, the aim is to enjoy myself and usually I succeed. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite manage that in The Three Horseshoes.

I'm not a huge fan of this place, to be honest. Even though there are only a handful of pubs in the…read morearea - and that one of them is The Hibernian, which also isn't great - this pub would be the last one I would chose. As is often the case with a less-than-great boozer, it could be so much better. The building itself is a great, traditional pub and the location is superb - right in the middle of the gateway to Stirchley - but unfortunately the pub lacks any kind of soul. This might be to do with the fact that it is quite large inside, but there are plenty of big pubs that manage to retain a welcoming feel. In fact, it's hard to put your finger on what exactly is wrong with the place, but it just doesn't feel right to me. A shame, and perhaps it will change in time, but at the moment this place is just not for me.

The interior of The Selly Park Tavern is spacious with plenty of tables and separate areas to…read moreaccommodate large groups, but other than that is nothing to really write home about. The front of the pub has a small area of tables, but these are mere yards away from the busy Pershore Road, so not exactly ideal. The outside area at the back of the pub is a different story. It overlooks a manicured bowling green and is far enough away from the Pershore Road for the traffic to be more of a dull hum than a nuisance. On a few occasions when we have sat out here a 15-piece Jazz band have been rehearsing in a hall adjacent to the pub, which makes for a pleasant change to Coldplay on the jukebox. The food is OK and the bar is well-stocked, with some decent cask ales and a fair selection of lagers. Overall, what this place really lacks is any sense of it being someones local, which is strange given it's location. There is not another pub for at least half a mile in any direction and the place is surrounded by houses, yet it retains the somewhat soulless feel of an bar in an airport, which is a shame as the size and architecture of the place suggests it could be so much better.

The Selly Park Tavern is either really well placed in the middle of the Pershore Road or really…read morebadly placed, depending on how you view it. Last time I was here I sat outside - it's great that they have an outdoors, but compared to the size of the indoors it's a bit pathetic - a few tables in a car park basically. Which is where being on the Pershore Road isn't that great. That said, on the plus side, indoors is large, and comfortable, and always clean and tidy. There's plenty of different beers and ales available, and they often do promotions.