The Somerset, Marston Road
Banks's
Banks's £1.55
Cameron Strongarm £1.65 (9.ix.1998)

It comes in two bits on the corner of Ferry Road and Marston Road, and the 
managers are brand new, just down from Dudley, but they'll take the 
sparklers off if you ask. "Do you like it flat then?" "Yes. I'm from the 
South", which is more convincing if you're not Scottish. Banks's, 
incidentally, is a reddish mild, which I don't like as much as Morrells 
Oxford Mild. Cameron Strongarm is excellent fruity stuff.

The public bar is huge and has Sky TV in it, which is undetectable from 
the lounge.

The lounge has a rather nice fireplace, a surprising amount of 
wainscoting, and a big bookcase full of eclectic and surprising hardbacks 
with cloth covers. I think they were chosen for their overall visual 
effect, because they range from maths textbooks to a partial dictionary of 
Hungarian to a collection of Browning.

The radiators are rather good in winter, and in summer there's a 
beergarden with Aunt Sally. (9.ix.1998)