Pub Heritage Romping Cat
Pub Heritage Group have recently carried out a regrading of Real Heritage Pubs - click here for full details
West Midlands - Bloxwich
Three star - A pub interior of exceptional national historic importance
Listed Status: II
97 Elmore Green RoadBloxwich
WS3 2HN
Tel: 07966 272434
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/1661698930745785
Real Ale: Yes
Nearby Station: Bloxwich
Station Distance: 178m
Public Transport: Near Railway Station (Bloxwich)
View on: Whatpub
A community corner local of 1900 which retains its three-room layout and outdoor department (still with its original sliding sash window). The bar occupying the rounded corner of the centre of the building has an unaltered counter, bar back and fixed seating. The small smoke room on the left has a hatch to the servery, original bench seating and bell-pushes but a modern fireplace within the old wooden surround. A passage with service hatch and colourful tiled flooring runs round the back of the servery to a further room described in an etched window as a ‘Coffee Room’ (a rare but by no means unknown pub room name). This has an old fireplace but the fixed seating has recently been removed. The pub was formerly known as the Sandbank Tavern and its sign showed a heraldic lion from the arms of Sir Gilbert Wakering, an Elizabethan lord of the manor: the (inevitable) nickname became official in 1957. The Grade II listing in 2004 was prompted by an application from CAMRA.
Originally the Sandbank Tavern, this unspoilt corner local was built in 1900 of red brick with timber-framed detailing and still retains its layout of three small rooms and the outdoor department. The pub changed its name in 1957 to the Romping Cat, allegedly for local traditional purposes. The entrance door on Elmore Green Road leads into a passage with a colourful Victorian tiled floor and an inner door with "Smoke Room & Outdoor Dept" etched and frosted window which leads to the off-sales hatch with its original sliding sash windows.
A door on the right of the passage has a ‘Bar’ decorative etched panel. The bare boarded public bar on the right retains its original curved and panelled bar counter with dividing pilasters that are fluted and curved like brackets. The original bar back fitting with slender fluted pilasters has seen some modern embellishments such as wood to affix the optics. The original fixed seating has a baffle near the right hand side door, there is an old wood surround fireplace with a modern ‘Banks’s’ interior. There are two curved exterior "Banks's Noted Ales & Stouts" etched windows one of which is a replacement. The left hand door has a ‘bar’ decorative etched panel.
On the left of the off sales passage is a door with a "Smoke Room" etched panel and door protectors which leads to a small room with a hatch, original curved bench seating with carved bench ends of a floral design and bell pushes in the panelling above. This room has another modern fireplace in the old wood surround and there is another etched exterior window. All rooms have coloured glass in the top of all the round arched exterior windows.
A colourful Victorian tiled passage around the back of the servery has a door for staff access to the servery with a hatch and a shelf for service to the Coffee Room. This small room has a door with the figure "4" on it, a "Coffee Room" etched window, and a tiled and wood surround fireplace. New inside toilets were added in 1997 where the former scullery at the rear of the Coffee Room was situated and this involved the removal of part of the joining wall and a small piece of bench seating to the left of the fireplace. The outside Gents and Ladies are still across the yard at the rear but no longer in use.
This is one of the last remaining pubs to sell the Banks’s Original (Mild) and Bitter from keg-like dispensers labelled as ‘Cask Ale’ which dispense half pint into oversized glasses – there is also a guest beer on handpump.
Full Description
A door on the right of the passage has a ‘Bar’ decorative etched panel. The bare boarded public bar on the right retains its original curved and panelled bar counter with dividing pilasters that are fluted and curved like brackets. The original bar back fitting with slender fluted pilasters has seen some modern embellishments such as wood to affix the optics. The original fixed seating has a baffle near the right hand side door, there is an old wood surround fireplace with a modern ‘Banks’s’ interior. There are two curved exterior "Banks's Noted Ales & Stouts" etched windows one of which is a replacement. The left hand door has a ‘bar’ decorative etched panel.
On the left of the off sales passage is a door with a "Smoke Room" etched panel and door protectors which leads to a small room with a hatch, original curved bench seating with carved bench ends of a floral design and bell pushes in the panelling above. This room has another modern fireplace in the old wood surround and there is another etched exterior window. All rooms have coloured glass in the top of all the round arched exterior windows.
A colourful Victorian tiled passage around the back of the servery has a door for staff access to the servery with a hatch and a shelf for service to the Coffee Room. This small room has a door with the figure "4" on it, a "Coffee Room" etched window, and a tiled and wood surround fireplace. New inside toilets were added in 1997 where the former scullery at the rear of the Coffee Room was situated and this involved the removal of part of the joining wall and a small piece of bench seating to the left of the fireplace. The outside Gents and Ladies are still across the yard at the rear but no longer in use.
This is one of the last remaining pubs to sell the Banks’s Original (Mild) and Bitter from keg-like dispensers labelled as ‘Cask Ale’ which dispense half pint into oversized glasses – there is also a guest beer on handpump.
