Britannia, Upper Gornal (Sally's)

The interest here is one, very special room (left rear). The detailing suggests it may have been fitted up in the 1920s. What looks like wood panelling is in fact artificial - little more than wall paper with cross members and verticals being applied to it (and not uncommon in pubs where a cheap, quick-fix Tudor effect was required. There are fixed benches and some stained glass. But the real interest is the shelving, drawers and bank of four hand-pumps (with pewter drip tray) on the corridor wall - in other words a servery without a counter (still in use on Saturday nights). Such arrangements are very rare today (in the West Midlands, see also the Manor Arms, Rushall) but were probably not that uncommon in small, basic public houses. There is also a hatch with a pewter ledge to the corridor and which would have been used both for off-sales and customers in the second room which has now been taken up by the ladies' toilet. The rest of the pub was not in public use; the present servery area at the front was a butcher's shop (outside door on left: there would have been a solid wall between it and the pub corridor), and were installed by Bathams who took over in 1997. The building dates from 1780 and became a pub around 1832. The Perry family owned it for many years and brewed until 1959. Also known as 'Sallie's', after the landlady from 1942 to 1991. The former small brewery at the back is now inactive.