A dozen Black Country venues make latest Good Pub Guide

The publication lists the best pubs for food and drink across the UK, but this year only one Wolverhampton pub, The Great Western in Corn Hill, is included in the latest edition.

But the Dudley borough gets 10 entries and Walsall and Sandwell two each.

The real ale Mecca of Gornal has four by itself, even though the current Campaign for Real Ale pub of the year, The Red Cow in Lower Gornal, is not included.

The quartet are The Black Bear and The Fountain in Lower Gornal and The Britannia and The Jolly Crispin in Upper Gornal.

Pubgoers' recommendations, backed up by editor inspections, are used to find the entries and the 2014 edition, which was published yesterday by Ebury Press, features more than 4,700 pubs.

This year's guide, which costs £15, welcomes 163 new main entries, but editors Alisdair Aird and Fiona Stapley warn in their introduction that in the next 12 months between 2,500 and 4,000 bad pubs will go out of business, although more than 1,000 new pubs will open.

Poor service is given as the top reason for pubs losing their entry in the guide and the editors also call for pubs to name their chefs on their menus.

The other Black Country pubs listed are: The Turf, Wolverhampton Road, Bloxwich; The Vine in Delph Road, Brierley Hill; The Park, Chapel Street, Dudley; The Old Swan, Halesowen Road, Netherton; The Hawne Tavern, Attwood Street, Halesowen; The Windsor Castle, Stourbridge Road, Lye; The Waggon and Horses, Church Street, Oldbury; The Waterfall in Waterfall Lane, Old Hill; The Beacon Hotel, Bilston Street, Sedgley and The Black Country Arms in High Street, Walsall.