Pubs & Clubs
Events
Beers & Breweries
Pubs & Clubs
Events
Beers & Breweries
Join Us

Manor Arms, Rushall

You have visited this venue
View all visits

Directions

You want to visit - You have this in
Operator: Marston's
Park Road, Off Daw End Lane, Rushall, WS4 1LG (View on Google Map)
No website available
  • Historic Interior

A canal-side pub, rumoured originally to have been built around 1105, and holding a licence to serve ale since 1248 which would make it one of the oldest pub sites in the country, although the current building is largely 18th century. Traditionally styled, it still retains features like exposed beams, bench seating and an open fire in the bar.

The handpumps are in a line along the wall resulting in it being known locally as 'the pub with no bar'. It has a historic pub interior of national importance for this reason, and also for the historic fittings and tiled floors.

Popular with walkers, cyclists and dog owners, it is situated next to a country park and nature reserve.

Although a little off the beaten track, the pub is well worth a visit.

Historic Interest

Thought to be one of the oldest pub sites in the country and with no bar counter.

Information for this venue is provided by the Walsall Branch of CAMRA
Previous Names
Local Authority
Walsall District (B)
Last updated
22/07/2025
Last surveyed
15/12/2024
Leasehold owner
unknown
Freehold owner
Marston's
Pub ID
WAL/2087
Asset of Community Value

Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance

Listed status: II

 

A three-room canalside establishment, opened as a beerhouse in 1895 within an 18th-century building and now one of the very few pubs in the country with no bar counter.

 The central corridor is a favourite place for a drink with many regulars and on its left is the public bar, where the hand-pumps and taps are set against the back wall, beneath rows of shelving for glasses and bottles. Customers and serving staff are therefore not segregated as happens with a conventional bar counter. This warm and welcoming room has simple dado panelling, a boarded ceiling, a fixed bench and a (possibly) inter-war brick fireplace. The front right-hand room has an old quarry-tiled floor, fixed seating (possibly from the 1930s) and a modern brick fireplace in an old inglenook. At the back is the lounge, a small room brought into pub use in relatively recent times and with no historic fittings. Food is limited to cobs.

General information about historic pub interiors

This three-roomed pub is constructed of mainly 18th century red brick and modern rough cast and is one of few ‘no-bar’ pubs in the country. Originally a farmhouse, the Anson family opened their front room as a beerhouse towards the end of the 19th century. Boatman on the Rushall Canal, which runs at the rear of the pub, being good customers. It gained a full license in about 1895. It has a nickname of ‘The Widows’ because it was run by two old ladies in the past. From the front door a quarry tiled floored passage runs to the rear and has one table near a hatch on the left hand side. Alongside the hatch for service to two rooms on the right there is a half door in an old partition wall and when you walk through the door you are standing in the servery alongside the staff! This is one of only a handful of pubs where this is still possible – in years past there would have been many.

You will notice there is no bar counter as such and the handpumps are all affixed to the bar back fitting. This is one of only six traditional pubs left in the whole of the UK without a bar counter including the other Heritage Pubs the Cock, Broom, Bedfordshire; North Star, Steventon, Oxfordshire; Tuckers Grave, Faulkland, Somerset; Rose & Crown, Huish Episcopi, Somerset; and Kings Head, Laxfield, Suffolk.

Until a cellar was built backing onto the canal in the 1950s, casks of beer were on stillage in the area where the bar back fitting is now situated – this makes the bar back fitting no older than 50-60 years. They never added a bar counter making it only one of only a dozen ‘no bar’ pubs in the UK. There is what looks look a tiny piece of counter on the far left near the kitchen but most drinks are handed to customers rather than be left here. The red screeded small public bar that you are now in has an old dado panelling, a 1930s brick fireplace and a boarded ceiling.

The front right Smoke Room has an old red tiled floor and modern brick fireplace under an old inglenook with the remains of a bread oven within a cupboard. All around the room is fixed bench seating which looks like it dates from the 1930s. The pub was hit by a thunderbolt on V E Day 1945 – it hit a chimney in the smoke room which was full of regulars planning the evening's celebrations and they all ended up covered in soot. The legendary band leader Glenn Miller is said to have drunk in the pub during the war with other G I’s. At the rear is the lounge, a small room that has been brought later into use and has no old fittings.

General information about historic pub interiors
Premium Access Required

You must be a Explorer Pass or CAMRA Member to be able to view specially curated GBG descriptions

Premium Access Required
Monday
Noon - 11:00pm
Tuesday
Noon - 10:00pm
Wednesday
Noon - 11:00pm
Thursday
Noon - 11:00pm
Friday
Noon - 11:00pm
Saturday
Noon - 11:00pm
Sunday
Noon - 11:00pm

TasteMatch

Unlock TasteMatch and all of CAMRA’s online tools from just 99p/month with our Explorer Pass, or join as a member to get the best of pubs, beer and breweries plus discounts at the bar.

Current beers

This Pub serves 2 changing beers and 3 regular beers.

Regular and recently seen

Ringwood - Razorback TasteMatch Prediction

View beer
Ringwood - Razorback
Ringwood - Razorback Session Bitter • 3.8% Spotted 4 times
Ringwood - Razorback
Ringwood - Razorback

This beer is served regularly and Spotted 4 times at Manor Arms, Rushall.

ABV 3.8%
Dispense Handpump
Style Session Bitter
Colour
Vegan No
Gluten Free No

Wainwright - Gold TasteMatch Prediction

View beer
Wainwright - Gold
Wainwright - Gold Session Golden Ale • 4.1% Spotted once
Wainwright - Gold
Wainwright - Gold

This beer is served regularly and Spotted once at Manor Arms, Rushall.

ABV 4.1%
Dispense Handpump
Style Session Golden Ale
Colour
Vegan No
Gluten Free No

Wychwood - Hobgoblin Gold TasteMatch Prediction

View beer
Hobgoblin Gold - Banks's
Wychwood - Hobgoblin Gold Session Golden Ale • 4.2% Spotted 16 times
Hobgoblin Gold - Banks's
Wychwood - Hobgoblin Gold

This beer is served regularly and Spotted 16 times at Manor Arms, Rushall.

ABV 4.2%
Dispense Handpump
Style Session Golden Ale
Colour
Vegan No
Gluten Free No
Changing

Changing beers typically include: Black Sheep - Best Bitter , Brakspear - Oxford Gold , Young's - London Original

Source: National


Your scores

Join CAMRA to access beer scoring and view scores for other pubs. Become a member.
Retrieving scores
You have no beer scores submitted.

Facilities
Garden Garden
Family Friendly Family Friendly
Parking Parking
Dog Friendly Dog Friendly
Real Fire Real Fire
Smoking Smoking
Wi Fi Wi Fi
Features
Cask Ale Cask Ale
Real Heritage Pub Real Heritage Pub
LocAle LocAle
Quiet Quiet
Transport
Close to bus routes (50m)
997
Ordnance Survey Reference
Directions
Off B4154 At Canal Bridge

Help keep our information accurate!

Notice an error or missing details? Help us keep our pub & club information accurate by sharing any corrections or updates you spot.

Suggest an edit

Nearby

2016. (External, Key). Published on 02-12-2016
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Boathouse
Star (Heineken UK) Pub, in Rushall
2 Regular Beers
(External). Published on 23-02-2015
Closed • Opens in 1 minute
Rushall Labour Club
Rushall Labour Club Club, in Rushall
Cask Ale not available
Farmers Arms, Rushall May 2019. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 19-06-2019
Open
Farmers Boy
Pub, in Rushall
Cask Ale not available
(External). Published on 05-11-2014
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Dilke Arms
Pub, in Walsall
1 Regular Beer
(External). Published on 05-11-2014
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
White House
Sizzling Pubs (Mitchells & Butlers) Pub, in Aldridge
2 Changing Beers
(External, Key). Published on 02-12-2016
Closed • Opens at 8:00pm
Calderfields Hotel & Golf Club
Restaurant, in Rushall
1 Changing Beer
Published on 30-09-2013
Closed • Opens at 5:30pm
Four Crosses
Independent Pub, in Shelfield
Cask Ale not available
(External). Published on 08-12-2014
Open
Red Lion
Pub, in Aldridge
Cask Ale not available
Published on 07-10-2013
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Fountain Inn
Pub, in Walsall
8 Changing Beers
(External). Published on 30-10-2014
Closed • Opens at 1:30pm
Spring Cottage
Pub, in Walsall
Cask Ale not available


Recently Viewed

Burnt Oak, Shenley Brook End. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 22-02-2015
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Burnt Oak
Pub, in Milton Keynes
Cask Ale not available
  • CAMRA discount scheme
Published on 09-11-2017
Open
Bell
Pub, in Kemsing
3 Regular, 1 Changing Beers
Thyme at the Tavern Exterior. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 29-09-2020
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Thyme Tavern
Pub, in Chertsey
1 Regular Beer
Closed • Opens at 3:00pm
Finley's Micro Bar
Independent Pub, in Renishaw
Cask Ale not available
Street view. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 02-07-2020
Richard Cobden
Independent Pub, in Chatham
Cask Ale not available
Closed • Opens at 1:00pm
Lane7
Pub, in Sheffield
Cask Ale not available
Ben Lomond. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 07-12-2021
Open
Ben Lomond
Greene King Pub, in Jarrow
1 Regular Beer
Drawing Room - West Didsbury. (Pub, External, Key). Published on 26-03-2011
Closed • Opens in 31 minutes
Drawing Room
Pub, in West Didsbury
Cask Ale not available
© Campaign for Real Ale 2023 - 2025 (ce-11)
Home