Tamworth Away....

Another football away trip weekend featuring a first-ever visit to an award-winning CAMRA pub in a Midlands town I had only visited once before. Here's what happened....

It was a cold and grey morning as we waited at Halifax railway station, having first met up for breakfast at the Shay Cafe, just down from the Shay football stadium, home of FC Halifax Town. We were heading to the Midlands to see Town take on Tamworth FC in the televised teatime game in the National League, which had been moved back from the regular 3pm kick-off time due to the demands of the TV schedule. That fairly recent decision hadn't really affected our plans, though; we were stopping over to join one of the lads in celebrating his birthday so the only inconvenience if you could call it that was having to spend up to 4 hours in the pub before the game rather than a more manageable and practical hour and a half.

The train took us to Leeds where we had a few minutes to wait for a Cross Country train heading for Plymouth which stopped at Tamworth on the way. After a slow start to the journey due to being stuck behind a stopping train on the way to Sheffield, the train picked up some speed and we arrived at our destination just before 1 o'clock. We left the station and made our way in to the town centre in search of a beer, passing the striking statue of Anglo-Saxon warrior queen Aethelflaed which stands on the roundabout just outside the railway station.

Apart from the Anglo-Saxon period, Tamworth has a rich history. The Roman road, Watling Street, passed close to the town and Roman remains have been found nearby. The Normans built a motte and bailey castle near to the site of an old Saxon fort, which itself was superseded by the current castle (opening image) during the 11th and 12th century. The town grew in the Middle Ages and was granted a charter to hold a market in 1319. A few years later, in 1345, a fire destroyed much of the town, only to be followed in 1348 by an outbreak of the Black Death. The town and its castle survived the Civil War and by the 17th century the town was one of the largest in the Midlands. Its wealth grew, helped by its status as a market town and control of two strategic bridges over the rivers Anker and Tame which run through the town. When the Coventry Canal was built, this opened up opportunities to trade across a wider area, and the textile industry joined coal mining as a major employer, with the town benefitting further when the railways came in the 19th century. Historically the town had straddled the border of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, but following the 1888 Local Government Act, the border was re-drawn with all of it placed in the latter. The population of the town was around 7,000 in the early 1930's, but grew to 13,000 after the Second World War as it took on overspill from the West Midlands. In the 1960's a major expansion plan was implemented and the population increased from 25,000 to around 76,000 today. With its older town centre surrounded by roundabouts, industrial estates, retail parks, and parkland, it does feel a little disjointed as you walk around. And a few other things about Tamworth that may come in handy if you ever have a quiz on the town; it was the birthplace of the Reliant Robin which was manufactured in the town until 1988, singer Julian Cope grew up in the town, and the town gives its name to the Tamworth pig, the only red breed in the country.

Market Street, Tamworth, with a statue of Sir Robert Peel

We walked past the historic St Editha's Church, through a modern shopping centre and shortly afterwards arrived on Market Street, where the first pub of the day was located, and was where we spent most of our pub time. We had arrived at the Tamworth Tap, which is a name that became well-known across the country when it became CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2022, a title it retained 12 months later, and only relinquished a couple of weeks ago when it was announced that the Bailey Head in Oswestry had won the award for 2024 (the title is awarded for the previous year). So as we walked in to the attractive redbrick building with its glass-frontage with the brewhouse of the Tamworth Brewery next door our sense of anticipation was high.

The pub is in a historic building that used to be the town's tourist information centre until it became a pub and brewery in 2017. It was busy, with all seats seemingly taken in a smallish room where tables were set in every available nook and cranny. Clearly a very popular place, there was a queue at the bar which, due to the tiny serving area, had to follow the linear queueing model that emerged post-lockdown rather than the standard lateral queuing that has existed since time immemorial. I spotted Bathams Bitter was on one of the hand pumps, and so I signalled to my mate who was in pole position to get served to order one for me. With space limited downstairs, we were advised to try one of the floors above. We walked up a narrow staircase to discover that all seats were taken in the room on the first floor, so it was up another staircase which was steeper and more narrow than the first one. The room up here was empty and so we were able to lay claim to a large table in the middle of the room, where we got settled until it was time to check in to the hotel. My beer was very good and I was surprised some of the other lads didn't switch to it as I kept banging on about how good it was (NBSS 4).

The lads settling in at the Tamworth Tap

We made several trips back downstairs to get more beer, and we had a view of both the castle and the historic courtyard at the back of the pub from a window at the top of the stairs. With wooden beams, exposed brickwork and mullioned windows, the Tamworth Tap revealed its antiquity, and when we returned in the evening following the football, one of the guys behind the bar told me that they were not allowed to do anything to alter the building's internal structure and layout. On our later visit we also managed to get a seat in the downstairs room, facing the bar, where we felt much closer to the heart and soul of the pub. Despite a choice which also included beers from the likes of Oakham, Thornbridge, Bristol Beer Factory, and Blue Monkey, I stuck to the Bathams then too, although had there been anything on from their own brewery I would have given it a try. To round up my thoughts on the Tamworth Tap, I have to say it is up there as one of the best pubs I have visited recently. Great beer, good welcoming atmosphere, and friendly staff who quietly get on with doing a brilliant job. An essential place to visit if you are ever anywhere near Tamworth. 

What's on at The Tamworth Tap

It was about 10 minutes walk to the Travelodge, which was situated above a branch of Lidl and which turned out to be very close to the football ground. Checked in and bags dropped off, we headed straight back in to town for another couple of beers before the match. We made our way to Lower Gungate where opposite the Saturday market and close to St Editha's church was the Sir Robert Peel, one of two Good Beer Guide-listed pubs on this street. The pub is named after the town's MP from 1830 to 1850 whose became home secretary, helping to create the modern police force, and later went on to become prime minister. We walked in to a busy pub with a lively and friendly atmosphere and I realised I had called in on my only other visit to Tamworth. The choice of beers was a little disappointing with beers from Ossett and Rudgate on the bar - not that there's anything wrong with them it's just that I would rather see beers from the area on the bar rather than Yorkshire beers when I'm travelling around. I settled on a pint of Rudgate Battleaxe Bitter, which was in decent form (NBSS 3) but not up to the standard of the Bathams I'd had earlier. One of the lads asked me to ask if there were any pies available. The guy behind the bar, in a thick Brummie accent, replied "Sorry, mate, we don't sell poys but we have some cobs." So a round of cheese and onion/cheese and ham cobs was duly purchased to help soak up the beer. I was tempted to ask him if I could have a kipper tie to go with it! A friendly pub with a mixed clientele which is worth checking out if you are in town.

A short stroll a little further along Lower Gungate brought us to what was the first micropub to open in Tamworth. The King's Ditch opened in 2014 in a former cycle shop and consists of a downstairs room with a small seating area upstairs along with the toilets. Beers are served from a servery in the corner in the downstairs using gravity dispense, the barrels tucked away around the corner out of sight along with a large selection of ciders and perries. From a range of four ales, I went for a Session IPA from Stourbridge-based Green Duck, a 4% pale blonde beer featuring Mosaic hops giving a tropical fruit aroma and flavours along with a dry finish, which was on good form (NBSS 3.5). The downstairs room was pretty full but we managed to find some space upstairs. A nice little place that is well worth calling in.

Time was moving on so we finished our drinks and headed out into the advancing gloom to make our way to the Lamb Ground, the home of Tamworth FC. We headed back out towards the hotel and then carried on the main road, the floodlights appearing through some trees, and soon we were there. Once in the ground we took up residence behind the goals in the away end, as the teams came out and the game kicked off. As we had found earlier in the season, when Town went 2-0 down before coming back to win 3-2, Tamworth are tough opposition, and this evening they were straight on the front foot and forcing the Halifax defence to work hard from the off. But it was Town who scored first against the run of play early in the first half and Tamworth, despite working hard and dominating play, could not get an equaliser. Town, who came into the game more in the second half, doubled their lead, and with the home team scoring from a penalty late in stoppage time to give the scoreline a more realistic look, the game finished as the mists came in with a final score of Tamworth 1, FC Halifax Town 2.

Action from Tamworth v FC Halifax Town

We filed out of the ground and re-traced our steps back in to the town centre where we went straight to the Tamworth Tap. From there we tried to get a pint at the Market Vaults, a Joule's pub across the road, but after a few minutes queueing in what was a very busy pub, it was felt that we should cut our losses and go for a curry and have a beer later. So that's what we did, although I have to say the curry was below average unfortunately.

For a final drink we headed to the local Wetherspoons, the Bole Bridge which had the benefit of being close to the hotel. A large pub, it takes its name from an ancient packhorse bridge which disappeared in 1877 and features information about the town's history in panels on the walls. I had a pint from Black Hole Brewery, based in Derbyshire, whose beer names have a cosmic theme with a strapline that runs Beers that are out of this world. However I have to say my pint of Uranus failed to impress, being rather less than unworldly and thin for a 4.4% premium bitter and a slightly disappointing way on which to draw the day's proceedings to a close (NBSS 2.5).

We were back at the Bole Bridge for breakfast the following morning, before heading to the station to catch a mid-morning train back north. It had been worthwhile coming here as we came away with 3 points, and had enjoyed a variety of beers in 3 out of the town's 4 CAMRA Good Beer Guide-listed pubs, having a great time helping our mate celebrate his birthday along the way. When we were in the Tamworth Tap I'd picked up a leaflet produced by the local CAMRA which featured 9 pubs and mentions 2 others in what is a fairly compact town centre, which would enable a decent day's pub crawl. Something to look forward to for next season maybe....

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