The Lion, Shirley, Solihull

Now apparently owned by a couple of local Solihull lads the old Red Lion has reopened earlier this year as the Lion Sport and Eat after a £300,000 makeover. Never visited the old Red Lion but when reading the previous reviews below I would say the £300K was spent gutting the place and giving it a thoroughly modern sports bar make over. You enter via a black canopied main entrance adorned with coach lanterns into a thoroughly modern wooden floored lounge bar set up with a bar to the right , high tables in the middle and booths to the left with windows above. And then beyond this is a further carpeted longe section. Sports screens everywhere in this section including individual ones for each of the booths on the left. Then if that is not enough for you, go to the end of the bar and follow the sign to the toilets, sports bar and beer garden. A corridor takes you past the toilets into another sports room equipped with its own bar, a large flat screen on one wall , pool table, dart board and additional wooden table seating. Then a door from here leads out to the beer garden but I didn’t get that far. Lots of shiny keg taps with all the usual Lager suspects but both bars do have three hand pumps which were dispensing Doombar, Purity Brewing Mad Goose and Wye Valley HPA and my pint of Mad Goose was passable enough. Yes I can see where the £300K went, on screens for one thing as I stopped counting at 12. As a pub for a quiet pint it’s probably not that sort of place as I don’t think there is anywhere you can sit without being in full view of a screen. But for somewhere to watch sports I think they have done a cracking job, and I can imagine it coming into its own when one or more of the West Midland footy teams are playing. Hopefully someone can visit when the footy is on and confirm or deny.

Called into this pub on a visit to Shirley and found a comfotable friendly bar wit a choice of ales. There is a function room where live music is played. Friendly staff and has the feel of a well used community local.

Interesting place. Its awful looking from the outside, especially in Shirley which prides itself as upmarket (compared to nearby Birmingham). Its location on the busy main road also does it no favours either aesthetically or conveniently. Inside its a real 70's throw back - dim, lots of pine board cladding, pub carpet and pattened cloth benches. There are also toby jugs on shelves. There is a pine clad central pillar with a couple of bandits around it. Some modern pubs would probably pay a designer lots of dosh to come up with this retro feel..or maybe not! Its ok, not over friendly, but comfortable and certainly offers something different to the family pub type chain restaurants that are littered in this Solihull suburb. Ex Good Beer Guide there are 3 real ales - Adnams Lighthouse, Wadworths 6X plus a guest, in this case Wells John Bull. Beer quality was ok and at £2.60 a pint not bad value

Horrible place and very expensive.AVIOD.