East & West Midlands

The Wellington

Bennetts Hill, Birmingham B2

Nigel Barker believes Birmingham is no longer a "real ale desert" - thanks to the

Wellington. Nigel (right) is manager of the busy

city centre freehouse that has developed into a cask beer oasis since opening in

December 2004.

Realising a dream

A firm favourite among Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) members, its vast range of real ales attracts customers from a wide area.

Nigel says: "I first moved to Birmingham in 1995 to run a pub and quickly found out that Birmingham was a real-ale desert. It was a dream of mine to open a real ale freehouse in the centre of the city and it took nearly 10 years to come true."

Handpull heaven

Nigel spent around £40,000 turning a closed down wine bar into the Wellington which, he claims, sold more real ales - a staggering 2,610 - than any other pub in the UK in 2005. When it opened, the pub boasted 10 hand pulls, but was so successful that the number soon

increased to 15, plus another three for cider.

"We're a busy pub and 80% of our turnover is cask beer," says Nigel, whose assistant, David Moorhouse (left), ensures customers are kept up to date with the latest ales. A 42-inch plasma screen tells them everything they need to know about any of the ales on sale,

including its name, strength, price and pump number. A colour-coding system highlights the palest and darkest beers.

Web and word of mouth

Whenever a change of ale is featured on the screen it automatically updates the

outlet's website, which attracts an average of

50 'hits' a day.

"We advertise in Camra newsletters, but most of our new trade is by word of mouth," says Nigel, who has overseen various improvements at the Wellington including rebuilt toilets costing £10,000. A further £4,000 has been spent on installing cellar cooling.