Bolehall Manor Club, Bolehall

 Fellow pub blogger, and regular commenter on this blog, Britain Beermat has got a theory (much to his surprise) that many of the pubs in Tamworth are stately homes so who am I to disappoint him with my latest offering The Bolehall Manor Club?! 

This spectacular venue (okay pedants strictly speaking this isn’t a pub) opened as a private member’s club in 1939 having previously been home to the vicar of St Editha’s Reverend MacGregor. The Reverend was a Egyptologist and if you were lucky you’d get an invite to his purpose built Egyptian museum (located in his house) to view his impressive collection of Egyptian artefacts. I wonder if he would have been impressed by my fridge magnet from Sharm el sheikh?!! 

I’m not gonna lie, my significant other and I have boycotted this place for years having been previously refused admission one late Saturday afternoon for being ‘inappropriately dressed’ !! I’m sure we were smart casual but we didn’t refer it to VAR. This was a bit of a shame as it is nicely positioned to break up our thirty minute walk to and from Tamworth town centre.

We recently decided, somewhat generously in my opinion, to give the place another go and were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received and the quality of the venue. I believe Andy is currently in charge of matters and, after warmly greeting us, he tried to explain the ownership of the place but in all honesty it seemed as convoluted as the current hierarchy at St Andrews so I soon switched off distracted by the fact that much to my delight there was a cask ale on offer not only that it was a decent one Timothy Taylor Landlord. He apologised on behalf of the club for our previous experience and explained that we may have encountered one of the stuffy directors. 

Andy and his daughter (who was serving behind the bar and whose name shamefully eludes me) explained that non members are welcome however the £48 annual membership entitles members to significant savings (I’m sure he said it was as much as a £1 a pint) off their beer. I quickly began to do the sums in my head…if I visited the place once a week for a year and drank say four pints…..

As well as the beverage discounts membership also entitles members to use of the two full sized snooker tables and more significantly full fishing rights on the river running alongside the property. I was that excited I nearly got my tackle out !!

There are regular events at the club, Slimming World is every Wednesday, Jazz Night is most months, stock up on your talcum powder supplies as Northern Soul nights are held regularly and if you love your tribute acts this is the place for you, last year members were lucky lucky lucky enough to be Spinning Around to a tribute to our favourite Antipodean (behind Angus Young and Dame Edna obviously) Kylie Minogue. 

Our Bolehall Manor comeback coincided with Sunday’s karaoke night and,as is often the case with these things, there was a real eclectic mix. It was probably the first time I’ve seen a song by English new wave band Japan attempted, There Are Worse Things I Could Do is almost certainly the least obvious song to choose from the Grease soundtrack, and whilst I wholeheartedly approved of the choice of the classic ELO number Mr Blue Sky, it was that fast I think the DJ played it at 78 rather than 45…one for the grown ups there me thinks !! 

The club acts as a venue for weddings, wakes, birthday parties (our subsequent visit was on one such night where we got chatting to club member Mad Kevin!!), themed events (the Reverend would certainly approve of an Egyptian night) and Corporate Hospitality. On the subject of Corporate Hospitality the club’s website stated that there are ‘endless possibilities to help motivate your team’…yep a few pints of Landlord tends to have that effect on me boss !! 

The club got creative during lockdown with a mobile donut van parking up in the car park at weekends. I salivated like Homer Simpson when passing whilst participating in my government approved recreational activity. 

All told now the admission policy is less draconian (I did chuckle when Andy said ‘Don’t get me wrong I try and keep the sh*t out’) this place is definitely on the agenda for future visits and there’s now no need for me to dig out a pair of smart slacks to get past security!!