The Malt Shovel, Dudley

One of the two GBG 2026 options in town. An unassuming former banks house, where the write on an external chalk board that they do indeed have Real Ale. Choice of three - Pictish Blue Moon chosen and was in GBG worthy condition. Cobs for sale. Smart enough town centre pub, with friendly staff.

Old building in town centre but modernised, bright inside, good beer choice

The Malt Shovel is an L-shaped pub with a mix of exposed brick and blue painted walls under a ceiling supported by industrial girders. The parquet patterned wooden bar to the left faces tables that run under the front windows. A television above was providing background music via 90s Hits TV, Sky Sports is advertised on an outside banner. Seating runs up the right-hand side of the pub from front to rear. The five hand pumps were drawing Wye Valley’s Butty Bach, Oakham’s Citra, Holden’s Golden Glow, Thornbridge’s Jaipur and Sarah Hughes Brewery’s Snowflake, which is the 8% CAMRA Winter Beer 2024 winner. Tempting, but being the start of a crawl I went for the Wye Valley which was well served. A box of Old Rosie cider sat on the end of the counter and a range of standard and premium keg was also available. The service was polite and there was a decent crowd in for a Wednesday afternoon. Worth a look.

Back street local which has always been a good solid pub. The beer choice is much improved these days with a choice of 5 including a couple from Fixed Wheel. I went for Fixed Wheel Golden Bicycle which was decent. Glad to see it still going strong!

A back street alehouse between the centre of town and the castle. There are five beers - at the time of my visit for the Dudley winter ales festival there were two beers from Sheffield (Blue Bee and Abbeydale), plus Oakham and the rather more local Wye Valley and Holdens. I had a half each of Oakham Winter Wisp, a 4.1% pale (NBSS 3.5) and Holden's Golden Glow 4.4% (NBSS 3). A couple of what I took to be regulars came in soon after me and had a bottle of Holsten pils and an Aspalls cider - I guessed they were regulars as they certainly weren't likely to be going to the beer festival! A TV screen in the corner just above my head was playing some truly ghastly music videos from the 1980s. If it wasn't for the beer quality this would be a bloody awful pub. Date of visit: 23rd November 2023

Official site of The Malt Shovel - www.theredpubcompanyltd.co.uk

Official site of The Malt Shovel - www.theredpubcompanyltd.co.uk