Unusual name for a micro pub maybe, that is until you meet the landlord and understand his love of the Oss.. that is Horses, and horse racing. Just off The Penn Rd we visit : The Starting gate, a little pub from the front but not so little inside, and with a good selection of revolving beers too. Come take a look inside with us.
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00:00So we're here at the starting gate in Penfields, a bit of an unusual name for a pub until you find out your passion, which is?
00:08Which is horse racing.
00:09Horse racing. A lot of love for horse racing in the black country to be fair isn't there, do you know what I mean?
00:15Yeah, yeah, I've followed it since I was four years old thanks to my grandad.
00:18Yeah, and how long have you had this place then chap?
00:21Six years now.
00:23And for people who don't know what a micro-pub is, for a start where have they been?
00:28But what's kind of the ethos of it then, you know, a micro-pub and what you do here?
00:34It's part micro-pub, although it's not very micro, it's bigger than it looks.
00:39But it's really more than that, it's a real community hub.
00:44We have people come from far and wide but the main base of our customers from day one
00:50probably walk here most of the time and they're in and around the community.
00:55Yeah, and you have quite a different selection of beers and stuff on don't you?
00:59Yeah, yeah, I mean the main, again, ethos is it's ales, it's real ale bar.
01:05Probably 70% of our turnover goes through the four ale pools that we have on.
01:12I tend to go far and wide for different ales but also support plenty of the local suppliers and brewers
01:20and everybody's favourite is on every other week generally.
01:25And what's doing good business at the minute then here?
01:28As I say, ales is the main thing.
01:31We do reasonably well on lager as well, probably do five or six bottles a week.
01:37And there's two or three, or four or five super, not super ales, but if I put them on they don't last very long
01:45and that's the likes of Wye Valley, Buttyback, Church End, Vickers Ruin, Goffs, Cheltenham Gold.
01:53You've got a little Kinva one haven't you that's doing alright at the minute?
01:56Kinva one does very well in here and also Hobson's Town Crier is really, really popular.
02:02So I guess it becomes like a community doesn't it when you've got a place like this, like a hub of the community.
02:08You've got your faithful regulars then that come in every week?
02:12Almost every day, some of them from day one.
02:16There are some real, real hardened regulars.
02:19Others that come in three or four times a week and then people that probably come in once a week.
02:24And then we have the people that come in for the first time.
02:27And like you say, it is a Tardis isn't it? You come into it, it's a lot bigger than it looks from the front folks
02:32and you've got a decent sized beer garden at the back.
02:35And you've even got a few of the regulars that are going to get stuck in and do a bit of work there haven't you
02:39and do a bit of pimping on the beer garden.
02:41Yeah, in the winds a few weeks ago we lost one of our marquees.
02:46It got tilted upside down and smashed to pieces basically.
02:50So yeah, we've got a group of guys that have been drinking in here for years now
02:56and they came straight over to us and said right, we'll get a load of wood for it.
03:00We'll put in a wooden structure, so let's see what happens.
03:03That's what a community pub is all about isn't it, do you know what I mean?
03:06And we just, I guess we should mention, as well as this fantastic table we've got here with the darts board
03:12you've got a little tribute to the wolves haven't you? Some nice old historical items here.
03:16Yeah, I've been a wolves fan all my life, season ticket holder for Donkeys years
03:20even though I don't go anymore, I don't go very much anymore.
03:23And yeah, always had an interest in them and always will have.