With the licensee dressed as a Victorian gentleman, an organ in one corner of the pub and a black iron range in the other corner, walking into The Old Swan in Netherton is like taking a step back in time.

“I always dress like this when I’m serving behind the bar as our aim is to keep the old traditions alive,” says licensee Tim Newey, aged 48.

“Brewing began at Ma Pardoes in 1835 as before 1830 there was no such thing as a public house – just inns, tavern and coach houses.

“The Beer Act changed all that and by 1872 there were 6,000 home brew pubs. But by 1972 there were only four left in the whole country and we were one of them. Ma Pardoe brewed beer at the pub from 1932 to 1984 and the favourite was known as ’Om Beer, which is Home Beer, and we now call it Original. The process of brewing the beer hasn’t changed except we have an electric pump now and 20 pubs in the Midlands use our beer.

“Another thing that has changed at the pub is that we have a restaurant upstairs and it follows our tradition of making things on the premises as even the ice cream is produced here.”

Tim says government legislation has affected the atmosphere in traditional pubs. “We only used to open for lunch and then would close until 6pm,” says Tim. 

“This meant everyone would meet at the pub at the same times, whereas now people drift in and out all day and the banter that was exchanged over a game of dominoes or darts has almost disappeared.”