The Great Escape!

Some of you may know, most are probably not interested in the slightest, but London Midland trains are running a cheap travel promotion for a few weeks - £10 to roam their network for a day. I thought I'd take advantage, so I've printed off my voucher for this coming Saturday. Weather permitting, I'm intending to visit Worcester, Central Birmingham & Lichfield.

As there are a few Midlands-based folk hanging around here, maybe some of you can recommend decent pubs serving interesting beer in any of those places? A 'decent' pub probably wouldn't be showing Sky Sports and definitely won't have shaven-headed men glaring in the direction of the bloke quietly reading a paper in the corner. 'Interesting' beer is ale that I may not be able to find around here - I'm not too bothered what colour, although yellow or black are normally preferable to brown.

I look forward to receiving your recommendations - it's only a flying visit, so I won't be doing them all (unless I only get a couple of suggestions:D).

Cheers:glass::glass:

I did ‘The Great Escape’ about four weeks ago when London Midland ran it last time, good to see they are doing it again. Starting from Watford I got an early train to Birmingham for a few pints at the Wellington on Bennetts Hill not far from New Street. Then back on the train to Northampton and a couple at the Malt Shovel. Next back to Bletchley and switch to the Marston Vale Line to Bedford for a few. A quick stop off at Berkhamsted rounded off an excellent day.

I’d certainly recommend the Wellington in Birmingham for a good selection of beers, no Sky TV or music either. In Worcester the Dragon near Foregate St station is a good one, plus the Plough on Fish St down near the Cathedral. Have a good trip.

Thanks for the tip. South West Trains did something similar last August and I had a cracking day out in Salisbury. Will get my thinking cap on and see if I can use this offer to destroy my liver in another unsuspecting City.

Checked the website and this offer is available 13th to 21st of Feb for half-term. By chance I have just booked the day off on Friday 19th planing to go to the Luton Beer Festival, I might change my plans now :cheers:

To get this special priced ticket you need to go to the website and download a voucher to take to the station.

A good little move is out to Ledbury for the Prince Of Wales,Malvern Link for the Nags Head,then Worcester for the unmissable Dragon Inn and then back to Brum. Don't know is "break of journey" allowed on those LM tickets though,and you might have to top it up if you ended up on an FGW choo choo.

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Originally Posted by an_ecumenical_matter

Don't know is "break of journey" allowed on those LM tickets though

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Breaking your journey is fine with these tickets, I did 8 different legs on my day which is reported here.

The only hassle that I had was that the ticket didn't work in the automatic barriers but it was never questioned or refused at the gate.

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Originally Posted by Millay

I’d certainly recommend the Wellington in Birmingham for a good selection of beers, no Sky TV or music either. In Worcester the Dragon near Foregate St station is a good one, plus the Plough on Fish St down near the Cathedral. Have a good trip.

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- noted Millay - thanks.

Ecumenical - re break of journey: yes - it's effectively a 'rover' ticket, so you can come & go as you please on LM trains.

The LM website is currently advising problems with the wires at Berkhamsted (hope that's fixed by the weekend, or I'm facing a day out in Watford!). There seems to be no link to the relevant page, so the URL is: http://www.londonmidland.com/tickets...great-escape?=

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Originally Posted by Millay

I did ‘The Great Escape’ about four weeks ago when London Midland ran it last time, good to see they are doing it again. Starting from Watford I got an early train to Birmingham for a few pints at the Wellington on Bennetts Hill not far from New Street. Then back on the train to Northampton and a couple at the Malt Shovel. Next back to Bletchley and switch to the Marston Vale Line to Bedford for a few. A quick stop off at Berkhamsted rounded off an excellent day.

I’d certainly recommend the Wellington in Birmingham for a good selection of beers, no Sky TV or music either. In Worcester the Dragon near Foregate St station is a good one, plus the Plough on Fish St down near the Cathedral. Have a good trip.

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Totally agree with the above having visited all three recently. I would also add The Swan With Two Nicks in Worcester.

Tempting, but makes for a long day out - Euston-Brum with LM takes 2hrs20, an hour longer than VT. Then there's the Shrewsbury temptation, where I've decided even a single overnight may not suffice with essential additions at Yorton (Railway inn) & Wrenbury (Bhurtpore Inn) so not a day trip. Mind you, I s'pose booking a tenner tkt for two separate days (out & rtn) would still be a decent saving.

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Originally Posted by PaulOfHorsham

The LM website is currently advising problems with the wires at Berkhamsted (hope that's fixed by the weekend, or I'm facing a day out in Watford!).

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Suggest you keep an eye on the website, there were still problems this morning with all trains either late or cancelled. Thought it would be sorted by tonight but if anything it was more chaotic, they even cancelled one train 5 minures after it was due to depart....while we were all packed on it :mad::mad: