'I searched for the last pub in Wolverhampton selling Bank's cask mild - here's where I found it'

Terry Cole, co-licensee of the Royal Oak in Compton Road, Chapel Ash, said the pub had two barrels left of the beer, which had been brewed in Wolverhampton since 1874.

All the other pubs we visited had stopped supplying it.

Fellow licensee Sue Fullwood said the beer was particularly popular with Wolves fans, and expected the last batch would go down well with supporters in town for today's clash with Arsenal.

The pub still sells about 250 pints of the beer a week, and Sue said new owner Carlsberg was making a big mistake in discontinuing the brand.

"There isn't anything to replace it with," she said.

"There's Holden's and Green Duck, but they aren't quite the same. We are going to try a range of different milds, to see which people like the best."

Husband Keith, who co-owns the pub with Sue, said they planned to have a 'mild week' to give people the chance to try as many different varieties as possible.

"People think if you go into a pub, and there isn't Banks's Mild on the pull in cask form, then it isn't a proper Banks's pub," he said.

Terry, who is 46, said Banks's Mild had been poorly marketed in recent years, and probably suffered from an old-fashioned image.

"The last time they had a proper advertising campaign, it was with Noddy Holder, which probably tells you something," he said.

Keith said Banks's had rebranded its bitter as Banks's Amber to give it a more modern image, and couldn't understand why the same couldn't be done with mild.

"The problem is younger people think they can't have Banks's Mild, because that's what their dad drinks," he said.

Carlsberg-Marston's announced it would be discontinuing 11 beers, including Banks's Mild, in November. 

Banks's Mild will continue to be sold in canned form, and some pubs will still supply it as a filtered keg beer.  More than 10,500 people signed our petition calling for the Danish brewing giant to rethink its decision. Our campaign was backed by former Slade frontman Noddy Holder and the Campaign for Real Ale.

Banks's Sunbeam has also ceased production as a cask ale, although it will continue to be sold in bottled form. Banks's Amber bitter will continue as a cask ale.

The decision was announced weeks after Carlsberg announced that the Banks's Park Brewery would also shut this year after 150 years in the city.