The Red Lion — Restaurant in Bromsgrove

PLEASE READ TO THE END AS THIS DOES HAVE A SATISFACTORY CONCLUSION BUT BE WARY OF THE CAR-PARK...

Visited here with two ex-workmates for a 'catch-up' on 17.05.25. We chose this pub because there was a beer festival on at our first choice (The Weighbridge) so it was extremely busy there and we thought The Red Lion might appreciate our custom.

Had a perfectly pleasant sit in the garden, several drinks and no complaints with the food. The service was surprisingly slow given that the place was hardly overcrowded, but that wasn't a problem to us... at the time.

Today, 02.06.25, a Euro Car Parks Penalty Charge Notice arrived with a “Date of Issue 22.05.25” demanding £100 but offering a reduction to £60 if paid by 05.06.25 “within 14 days of the date of issue”.

I've just paid it anyway: no point in appealing as that would inevitably lead to the £100 fine and they know this of course.

However, neither myself or my friends (who also received a PCN) had any idea that the Red Lion car-park had a 3-hour time limit but apparently we overstayed our welcome by 18-minutes.

Had our meals arrived quicker than they did, we'd have been off the premises somewhat earlier.

Checking Google Streetview I see that there is a single sign on one side of the car-park entrance BUT if, like us, you were to approach from the south-easterly direction, you will most likely fail to spot the sign, it being on your passenger-side as you turn in off the road. Drivers approaching from the opposite direction are more likely to spot it as they turn right into the car-park.

Once in the car-park we entered the pub via the rear-entrance from the garden but there was no notice there or indeed inside the pub warning of the time-controlled car-park.

I've just edited this review because, having read it, the Landlord got in touch with me, apologised, arranged for my fine to be refunded and this has now been done.

Apparently there is a tablet near the front entrance to the pub which enables you to input your registration number and avoid the car-park problem, but as I pointed out to him, this is not picked up by customers entering from the garden entrance.

Better signage elsewhere would help too, e.g. both sides of the car-park entrance and adjacent to the pub entrance...

We booked a table for ten for a celebratory lunch, a 60th birthday, Sunday lunchtime at 12. We ordered food pretty quickly as no one else was waiting, but it took nearly an hour for it to arrive. The one year old in our party was remarkably well behaved during this time even though it was getting to be a very late lunch for her. We were all eager to eat by the time lunch arrived. When the meals arrived one of them was the wrong order, so we asked for the correct meal. This took about 15 minutes to come out and at the first mouthful it was clear it was still very cold if not still frozen in the middle and actually inedible and had to be sent back. Unfortunately by this time everyone else had finished eating so my daughter ended up eating the cold leftovers from everyone else's meal. I asked to see the manager, and whilst I understand that Sundays are busy,was so disappointed in the whole experience. We very rarely get together as a whole family and had gone to a lot of effort to get everyone there for the meal. As far as our sweets were concerned they were tasty but again had to wait for such a long amount of time we had really gone off the idea by the time it arrived. I hadn't asked to see the manager to get a discount or money off but merely to express my disappointment. I had stated that we would not pay for the missing meal (which clearly did not solve the problem of one of the party needing to eat something when we got home). The bill for lunch came to over £230, we were not offered any discount as a gesture of goodwill. I have always enjoyed my visits to the red lion but I am not sure if I will be returning - slow service and mediocre...

Was greeted upon arrival by a friendly member of Staff and seated promptly (without booking in advance). Nice building and the tables were clean. We was served drinks relatively promptly also.

Food however... My partner ordered fish and chips (triple-cooked apparently), I don't think they'd even been cooked once properly, they were rock hard and there was all of 10 of them. There was no seasoning on anything the fish was completely bland.

My daughter had the roast. The meat and roast potatoes were edible. There was a giant 'roasted' parsnip that was raw and inedible and something that we assumed must have been an attempt at stuffing wrapped in bacon. My daughter had to spit it out, it was extremely salty and had no texture to it, it hadn't been cooked.

I had a Chicken and pancetta pie with mash and roasted veg, which on the plate looked decent. However the pie was all pastry and I was struggling to find any filling. It didn't come with a sauce as it was apparently in the pie. I think they left that bit out. If it wasn't for the fact I used some of my daughters gravy I would've had splinters after attempting to eat this meal it was so dry. Again, no seasoning. No flavour to anything. My partner ended up eating it just for the fact his meal was so tiny he was still hungry.

All food is overpriced for the quality you're getting. You could pay half elsewhere for a better meal. The place wasn't packed out at all either so I can't see any reason for the food being of such poor quality. The food was served very quickly after ordering, so I'm guessing it's just reheated.

Won't...