A great afternoon enjoying a value for money menu at Staffordshire sports bar

In world where every pub menu needs a culinary thesaurus to understand and with every descriptive syllable puts a pound on the price, it can be nice to choose food without needing to compare notes about a new word for gravy.

Pitchers in Tamworth has had more incarnations than David Ike's list of previous lives. Opened as the Palace Cinema in 1976, the Lower Gungate venue showed its last flick in 1991 when the demand for clubbing the night away saw its transformation into Bar Casa.

Then in the naughties Olivers was name above the door only to follow the fashion of demand for sports bars and music and be rebranded Corey's, which was a firm favourite with local people. So much so when the venue changed hands, the new owners called it Koreys.

After calling time on many memories the venue became vacant, only to entice new owners into investing into the town centre. After an extensive refurbishment, including an upgrade of an outside terrace and smoking area, Pitchers opened in the autumn.

Ostensibly a sports bar, but with the ability to transform into a Saturday night live music destination, five months after opening Pitchers had enough people on a Sunday afternoon to create an atmosphere.

Everyone in the venue, which included several families, seemed to be eating, which always is a good sign. I'd seen several mesh metal baskets full of gnawed chicken bones being taken from tables, I remembered the old adage, when in Rome, or in modern parlance copy the locals and if you don't like it blame the entire town's taste buds.

The menu is for people who have one eye on a screen and who will not bothered to Google any dish.

This might explain why the most popular item on the menu is the first burger - Cheese and Bacon Smash.  

Other burgers are available, including the Chili Smash and for fans of Pulp Fiction a Big Kahuna Burger.

There are the ubiquitous "small plates" which has been the hospitality's response to the cost of living crisis. Taking a leaf out the Spanish tapas book, instead of getting a starter each now there are small plates, which are bigger than starters but not as big as a main. 

They cost £6 each so makes financial sense to get three for £15. The small plates menu had an eclectic mix of cuisines and read like a greedy drunk person's route around an all you can eat buffet.

Mac'n'Cheese Bites, Katsu Chicken, Bang Bang Prawns, Buffalo Cauliflower Florets, Salt and Pepper Squid and others. If I'm honest I was watching the football when deciding on the small plates so went with the Chicken Tenders when I wish I'd gone for the squid, the lady chose well, the Beef Teriyaki.

It was a Sunday afternoon so I wanted something with gravy on so went with Bangers and Mash (£10) which was served with onion gravy. Because, I've been conditioned to order starters and mains I thought the small plates would come out first and then the mains but it all arrived together.

I'd also broken during the wait for food and asked to try the wings - normally they are £10 for ten wings, with American fries and home made slaw. But they agreed to make me five as a small plate instead of the main dish, I could have them either hot n' kickin, Buffalo, Piri Piri, Jerk or BBQ. 

I went for jerk. I'm glad I'd followed my gut and got some wings, they were tasty but not too spicy, and had plenty of meat on them, if I return I think I'd be more than happy, as it comes with fries and slaw, to have ten as a main. 

The lady's Beef Teriyaki and the wings put the chicken tenders to shade, maybe because I'd eaten the wings before the tenders, I felt they were a bit pedestrian. They felt more at home at finger food buffet for a retiring HR manager than on a sports bar table.

The lady munched through the most popular main course, the Bacon and Cheese Smash, which came with American fries which she did well to finish after I started invading her plate. 

The double patty might not have been cut from a Japanese bull, massaged in the day and kissed all over at night to the sounds of Bach, but it did not pretend to be. It was well worth a tenner and would soak up any alcohol consumed during a VAR extended cup tie ending in penalties.

Bangers and mash is comfortable enough in its traditional skin to be at home anywhere, from a deconstructed hipster ironic menu to Wetherspoons classic section.

The Bangers and Mash, mash at Pitchers was dense and there was lots of it, as it arrived in a huge dish. The onion gravy gave the mash an extra dimension and the sausages were finished way to quickly for detailed flowery description, the fact they were gone so fast is testament to them. 

The cabbage was bouncy and there was enough to make ten school's worth of children bawl their eyes out about being forced to eat their greens. I left a lot of cabbage, just as I still leave the crusts of my bread and my hair still isn't curly. 

The dish could be dependent on seasonal produce but if any vegetable has the confidence to gate-crash a bangers and mash, then it should only be peas in my book. But moaning about there is too much cabbage is akin to complaining about the pattern of the table cloth. 

£10, in 2025, for a pub main course, in an enjoyable establishment which has actually paid for its Sky subscriptions, is great value for money.

We were both too full to entertain a dessert from The Victory Lap menu, Indulgent Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Red Velvet Cheesecake and Three Scoops of Ice Cream.However, the cocktail menu offered us the opportunity for the perfect pick-me-up - Expresso Martinis. For £8 or £13 for two. 

They were a great way to finish the afternoon. 

From Monday to Thursday, noon till 9pm, food at Pitchers is 50% off the normal price.