Celebrated Black Country micropub closes for final time

The Wheelie Thirsty micropub in Old Hill closed on Sunday, much to the sadness of real-ale buffs in the Black Country.

It was the last micropub to be operated by the Blackheath-based Fixed Wheel Brewery, and had featured in the Good Beer Guide every year since it opened in May 2019.

Scott Povey, a director of Fixed Wheel Brewery, said it had been a sad and difficult decision to make. He said all efforts would now be concentrated at the brewery in Long Lane, which would be holding regular events in its tap room.

The bar in Halesowen was popular with real ale buffs, and praised by the Campaign for Real Ale for the choice and quality of its beer.

The 2025 issue of the guide said: "With a wide cross-section of customers, it is popular with out-of-town visitors, but remains a real community pub."

However, Mr Povey said ultimately it had not attracted enough customers to be viable.

"It's been struggling for a while," he said.

"It's not something we wanted to do, we are now focused solely on the brewery."

Mr Povey said rising costs had also been a problem.

"if you look at the cost of everything, it's extremely hard," he said.

"You can only put the cost of beer up so much, or people won't be able to afford it."

Mr Povey said pub trade had been in difficulty since lockdown.

"Everybody thought once it was over, and we were open again, everything would be great, but it hasn't been like that. The pub was not busy enough."

Fixed Wheel also had a sister micropub, also called Wheelie Thirsty, in Lye. The pubs were well known for their live entertainment.