Harborne Stores

Great atmosphere. Had a brilliant night. DJ music was not he best, but it was cheap and friendly.

Now I can see why some people might not like this place — I doubt very much they offer fruit beer or a nice gin sling and I think their bar snacks probably consist of pork scratchings and a couple of crusty cobs (and god only knows what would happen if you were to ask they bar-​staff for a skinny latte) but if you want somewhere unpretentious to have a pint and don’t mind sharing your space with elderly gents who may have had a few then The Stores (as it’s locally known) is a pretty good place to head. A couple of things I really like about the pub — it’s open early so you often see people tucking into a mild at a daft time in the morning. The food is cheap, cheerful and really rather well cooked and best of all they have a disco on a Friday where everyone seems to be having a brilliant time. I finish late on a Friday sometimes and rather like listening to the strains of ‘Come on Eileen’ as I wait for the 22 bus to turn up. I would’ve marked it higher but in the week it can be a bit quiet and I still have (bad) memories of a half of bitter I had there after a mis-​guided pub crawl.

I popped in here with a friend from New York because I wanted to show him a traditional pub. I live in the city centre so the one’s I know are more bars or restaurants but this seemed traditional — having never been here before.
It is a local traditional pub, in that everyone turned around as we walked in, quite obvious to the regulars that we were not locals. Anyway, we proceeded to order lunch (curry and a burger) which was acceptable pub food.
The outside had always looked quirky and interesting so was not expecting this to be so full on a weekday afternoon. It’s obviously popular with the locals but I could have done with less loud, drunk people having far too much of a good time on a workday afternoon!

As our suburbs get increasingly more gentrified, most suburban high streets have taken to employing the services of a Goose or a Weatherspoons as places in which to corral the local drinking community and keep them out of the posh Gastropubs of the smart urban elite. Not so Harborne.
The Harborne Stores was here long before The Buena Vista Social Club CD was hip and, I’m glad to say, will comfortably outlive the current fascination for Adele. In other words, this is a place where the people of Harborne — rather than those who have bought property in Harborne — come for a pint. And that’s why it’s good.
It’s a cosy bar right in the middle of the high street and it’s one of those pubs that is naturally dark, despite having enough windows, which means it’ll always be much more of a winter place than a summer place. It’s one of those Saturday afternoon boltholes that are a haven when you discover that it’s 4.30pm and you have no idea what the score is.