The Anchor is a Birmingham institution conveniently situated just around the corner from the city’s coach station, and a water stop before the remnants of the Irish Quarter and nightlife of Digbeth.
Locating this gem requires a complex game of “dodge the building works”. Google says it’s temporarily closed; not if the locals’ Christmas bank statements are anything to go by. It’s easy to miss if you don’t make it past the giant crater that is the former wholesale market on the edge of the city centre, and certainly you could be forgiven for doing so.
From the bar
You would not be forgiven, however, for refusing to seek out the best Guinness the city has to offer. That claim is so bold the pub has reinterpreted Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of its back room. The spark of life appears not between God’s own finger and Adam’s, but over two clinking glasses of creamy Guinness. Perhaps the staff know something we don’t about the attainability of divine perfection.
From the kitchen
If not in the stout, infallibility may well be found in its cobs. These aren’t sandwiches meekly offered alongside your average lager. They’re proper. Cheese thick as a doorstopper, beautiful silverside beef with lashings of onion chutney and – my personal favourite – the roasted gammon.
This is a place to be frequented not in a whimsical manner, nor in an ironic postmodern way; it’s to be enjoyed just as a pub should be, with old mates and new friends.
The Anchor, Digbeth, Birmingham
[Further reading: Letter of the week: Theatre of force]
Content from our partners
Related
This article appears in the 21 Jan 2026 issue of the New Statesman, Europe is back
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment