The Bellwether, Wednesbury

What's in a name? Our undercover meal reviewer The Insider finds out at a busy Wetherspoons pub in Wednesbury.

What is the most common pub name in the UK? It depends which survey you read. The Campaign for Real Ale found it to be The Crown, with 704 pubs carrying that name.

But a separate list by the British Beer and Pub Association puts The Red Lion as the clear front runner, with 759 hostelries to its name. The same study puts The Crown a distant 10th, with just 261 pubs of that moniker.

How do you explain a discrepancy like that? Maybe the licensed trade has been swept by a tide of militant republicanism, which meant the 443 missing pubs have all been de-crowned. But given that the two surveys were compiled within a matter of months, it does seem something of a long shot.

The fact is, though, with pubs closing at a rate of around 29 a week, keeping on top of which pub names are the most popular is a near-impossible task. One thing we can be fairly certain of, though, is that The Bellwether will not be featuring in the top 10 any time soon.

The Bellwether takes its name from a farm animal that has endured an eye-watering operation. To the uninitiated, a wether is a castrated ram. And if that was not enough of an indignity, medieval shepherds had a habit of hanging bells around the poor creatures' necks, so they would be able to detect the movements of their flocks.

In more modern parlance, a bellwether is something which might indicate future trends, and I suspect this was more the thinking that determined the name of the pub. That and the fact that it is a J D Wetherspoon pub previously called The Bell Inn.

Bell. Wether. Geddit? And let's be honest, it does sound a cut up from just being called The Bell.

The Bell almost disappeared from Wednesbury's landscape a few years ago. After a period as a shop unit, and later a minicab office, there were plans to demolish this building at the gateway to Wednesbury and replace it with a retail development. Then Wetherspoon stepped in and gave the Bell a near £1 million makeover; and it seems to be doing pretty well today.

It should be given credit for is serving food until 10pm. We rolled up here after being turned away from another pub which stopped serving at 8 o'clock, which seems ridiculously early to me, especially on a Friday night. It is not the first time we have had this problem in Sandwell.

The pub has no car park, although there is parking in the street outside, if you can find a space. The place was very busy; I didn't count, but I guess there must have been a couple of hundred customers. There was also quite a crowd outside, we had to make our way through the throngs standing in front of the doorway to find our way in, although they did politely move to let us through.

Inside, it is typical Wetherspoon, a large single room, with a huge bar along the side wall of the pub, and a few raised areas and balustrades to break it up. The furnishings are simple and traditional, with some very attractive large mirrors and fascinating illustrated articles about the history of Wednesbury.

Providing you can park close to the pub, disabled provision is excellent. It did look though it would benefit from a spot of refurbishment, though. In the alcove where we sat, much of the paint had rubbed off the walls, and vandals had carved some mindless ramblings into the table.

It is very much a young person's pub, I would say something like three-quarters of the customers were aged between 18 and 35, and the no-music policy means there is plenty of lively banter. Surprisingly, I think we were the only people in the pub who were actually eating, the rest seemingly lured in by the huge range of drinks.

As well as a choice of 20 wines, ranging from Frascati at £1.55 a glass, to the highly rated Veuve Clicquot non-vintage brut Champagne at a still reasonable £33.70 a bottle, there is a choice of beers that would put many supermarkets to shame. The big brewers are represented with a choice of 10 draught beers, and there are a further 13 bottled beers from around the world, including Newcastle.

But the real draw is the choice of real ales. Abbot Ale and Ruddles are the mainstays, the latter excellent value at £1.70 a pint, as well as a rotating choice of guest ales. I thought Black Hole bitter, quite a tangy straw-coloured bitter from Burton-upon-Trent, was excellent value at £1.99.

You have to say the menus at Wetherspoon pubs have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years; farm-assured beef, Wiltshire cured ham, free-range eggs. The prices have crept up a little, too, though, though they are still very reasonable.

Let's be realistic, you're not going to get Michelin-starred meals, but the food was actually quite good. The menu never specified what accolade my "award-winning" Lincolnshire had won, but they were pretty good; thick and juicy, and totally free from gristle, as good as you get anywhere.

My companion also remarked that her meal was as good as at many much more expensive places.

Service was brisk, but it was always polite and friendly, and members of staff asked several times if everything was to our satisfaction.

Each order had to be paid for in advance, and it was not possible to open a tab and settle up at the end of the meal, but I suppose in a high-volume outlet such as this, speed is everything.

For afters I tried the warm chocolate fudge cake, which was both generous and enjoyable, excellent value for £3.10.

The total bill was £22.50, good value by any standards, although the days when dining at a Wetherspoon was cheaper than eating at home are long gone. On the other hand, the standard of the food and service is very good for the money.

And it seems to be working. Because while we can't really know for certain whether it is The Crown or the Red Lion which is Britain's most popular pub name, there is no doubt that J D Wetherspoon is now one of the biggest names in the pub industry. And ask yourself this - when was the last time you saw an empty one?

It shows that if you offer good, basic food and a variety of interesting ales, all at competitive prices, then the punters will come.

A bellwether for the future, maybe?

ADDRESS

The Bellwether, 3-4 Walsall Street, Wednesbury WS10 9BZ

Phone: 0121 502 6404

Website: www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-bellwether

MENU SAMPLE

STARTERS

Three strips of Southern-fried style chicken strips with Reggae Reggae mayonnaise £2.10; Organic tomato and basil soup £2.99; Buffalo chicken wings with smoky barbecue sauce or Reggae Reggae tomato sauce £2.99

MAIN COURSES

British beef and Abbot Ale pie with onion gravy, mash or chips, and mixed vegetables or mushy peas £6.99; Moroccan meatball in tomato sauce with couscous £6.30; 28-day matured 10oz ribeye steak £8.79; Five-bean chilli with tortilla chips and rice or chips £4.40; Steak and kidney pudding with peas or mushy peas, chips and gravy £4.30.

DESSERTS

Fruit salad, yoghurt £2.10; Belgian waffle with ice cream £2.30