The Railway

stumbled across this busy place. good food and drinks.

I’ve been here several times. I used to hold meetings with my business partner here as it’s very easy access with its location right next to New Street. There is nothing exceptional about The Railway and the reason it gets 4**** is simply down to quality/​price ratio, plus free wifi.
There are plenty of places offering similar but they usually cost more. This places tends to be reasonably (not over) busy throughout the day as they have some good specials that drag in regulars and passing trade. The beer here is also drinkable and the service is perfectly acceptable.
As another reviewer mentioned, it’s kinda like Wetherspoons … but I’d add only if Wetherspoons was ever decent. You can also play pool in the back room, so what’s not to like?

Breakfast Review:
Villa vs Stoke. (Villa lost again).
Went there at 10:00 for breakfast, (the website says they are open at 9:00am).
The guy through the window gestured 20 minutes. We went away and came back. The place was heaving?!
We ordered a breakfast. It was £4.79, coffee was an extra £1.00,
It came on a sizzling platter. The bottom layer was covered with tiny cubed sautéed potatoes. There was a couple of succulent sausages, 2 rashers of tasty bacon, a black thing, (turned out to be a mushroom), grilled tomato, slice of toast and a couple of fried eggs on top.
My first thought was that we were in a Wetherspoons, but apparently, we were not. It’s similar in the ‘feel’ when you are inside.
It’s a very busy city centre pub, right next to New Street Station, hence its popularity, no doubt. The breakfast was good. The décor was clean and modern, it was let down slightly by the atmosphere — but it was a local derby football match, so the whole of the city centre was likely to be tense. It’s a shame really. If t wasn’t a football day, I’d be happy to recommend the place.

I’ve not been in the venue that is now The Railway for quite a while. The last time I was here it was a bit shabby and run down and dingy. Along with a new name, the place has been given a face lift, but unfortunately it doesn’t really make it too much better.
If I were still a student, I would probably love this place. It’s relatively quiet, nice and central and the food and drink are a VERY attractive price. Now I’m a little older, it’s not really my thing. Whilst I love a bargain, there are other places I would go for my cheap and cheerful nights out over The Railway. The good thing is, however, that it isn’t too busy, so it would cut down my bar queuing!
Overall, this place isn’t bad. It’s cheap and if that’s what your looking for this will do you fine. If you’re grabbing a quick drink before /​after a long journey this is a good place to do it. However, as a destination, I can’t see this being somewhere I go often.
Sorry, this one just doesn’t do it for me!

A large group of underpaid writers wanted somewhere we could meet for a casual midweek get-​together and some Proper Conversation — we chose the Railway because it was easy for everyone to get to, and big enough for us to all sit together. It was fairly quiet in there, and we easily took over a section on the ground floor.
Prices are Wetherspoons-​ish, and the menu offers a standard range of pub grub. There were several wines available by the glass — I sampled a few of the reds, which ranged from ‘nice enough’ to ‘drinkable but a bit rough.’ They seemed to have a reasonable selection of beers, ciders and spirits — again, nothing special but something to keep most folks quiet!
Service is swift and the staff are very friendly. Overall this is a comfortable, low-​cost and low-​hassle place. You wouldn’t write home about it, but it gave us everything we needed at the time.

This bar stands on the site of what used to be The Bright House. It was a suitably divey bar for those nights where we would pre-​drink before going to Birmingham’s quintessential rock club, Edwards No 8. As Dan G. reminded me the other night when we were here, it was the kind of place where they used patio furniture as indoor seating and you would regularly see drunken regulars fall off bar stools…
Flash forward and things have changed for this venue. It genuinely reminds me of the film, «The Worlds End» where no matter how many pubs the gang step into, they all look the same. It’s a chain bar, but serves it purpose admirably well.
It’s now a clean bar with faux «special» chalkboards (the kind that come pre-​printed where the specials never change), amble comfortable seating (of the proper bar variety) and reasonably chirpy staff.
We went in here on the Saturday before St Patricks Day (after Ireland had also won the rugby) looking for a venue we could get one quiet drink before retiring to our respective homes. It was the right choice. We walked in and managed to grab a booth with no bother. There was also «St Patrick’s Day» specials (including Jameson’s and mixer for £2 and cheap Guinness).
We grabbed a bottle of wine (for £6.95) and had our drink. The wine was –just about– quaffable (after having a drink at the restaurant) and the venue was quiet enough that we could have those all important conversations about how good Dido’s singing voice was when she provided backing vocals to Faithless (as opposed to on her album).
The toilets were clean and fairly flashy and all the clientele seemed to be behaving themselves (a stark change to the old Saturday night crowd that used to haunt this joint). There are pool tables, a dart board and a selection of very reasonably priced food and drink options.
Other than that, there isn’t a lot else I can say. This pub is cheap, cheerful and seems to attract a reasonable crowd. If you’re looking for a reasonable boozer to grab a couple of drinks with a group of friends on a Friday or Saturday night, you could do far worse than heading to the centrally located «Railway».

Visited last Saturday with fellow Unilocalers as we wanted a quiet drink after a meal, rather than the usual loud busy bars in the City Centre at the weekend. We got what we asked for! It was quite pleasant to be able to get served quickly and all get a seat together! Great location near New Street Station, so surprising it doesn’t attract more custom. There is nothing special about the place, but then there is nothing wrong with it. The pub is clean and tidy and it looks like the toilets have been recently refurbished. A bottle of reasonable white wine cost us around £8.
Don’t visit if you want a party atmosphere, but if it’s a quiet drink and chat you want then you could do worse.