Holly Bush, 37 Henley Street, ALCESTER, B49 5QX [Map]
01789 762482 
12-23 MO-SA; 12-22:30 SU
Car Park, Evening Meals, Real Fire, Beer Garden, Lunchtime Meals, Quiet Bar

Me outside the Holly Bush, December 2001

There are 2 pubs that really stand above the others in Alcester; the Holly Bush and the Three Tuns situated a couple of hundred yards down the road on the main High Street. To be quite honest, having lived in Birmingham for 8 years and spent many an evening perusing the Good Beer Guide, the definitive guide to good pubs, I'd never really imagined visiting Alcester to sample the beer in these 2 particularly fine pubs. But travelling back from the Cotswolds to Birmingham from a Christmas shopping trip, I stopped off at the garage on the main A46 and decided that I could resist a little diversion. AJ and I settle down to a fine pint of Uley bitter (abv 4%), a lovely copper-coloured bitter with a satisfying dry finish. A quick chat with some of the locals revealed a reasonable B&B, and 10 minutes later (including a trip to the local store to buy a toothbrush and some toothpaste) all was sorted and we settled down to another pint and a look at the menu. Unfortunately, being the weekend before Christmas the pub was heaving and sadly there was 'no space at the inn' for dinner, but a quick trip around the corner to the excellent curry house by the supermarket up an alley behind the pub solved the food issue.

Anyhow back in the pub and we settle into the front room, a fairly basic public bar with stools and settles, a couple of guitarists and lots of people tapping their feet consuming the very fine ale. Lots of guest beers along with local brews from the Uley and Cannon Royall breweries - two of my personal favourites. If you don't fancy the front room, there are 4 others offering a wide range of drinking and eating environments. The building's pretty big, it used to be a hotel but has been carefully refurbished in recent years and is now a firm favourite with a strong local following. Apparently the food is very good (probably why it was booked out when we visited) with lots of homemade options if you like that sort of thing.

One other thing, if you like folk you'll find plenty of it here along with beer festivals though you'll have to give them a call if you want more information.

A folk / rock session in the front bar, December 2001