IF YOU had a friend visiting from another city, perhaps this famous Brum boozer would be a place you’d ideally want to impress them with.

According to English Heritage’s National Monuments Record, Ye Olde Red Lion is now 108 years old and Grade II listed.

Designed by respected city architect C E Bateman, it’s said to be of ‘Cotswold limestone vernacular style’.

But while the Vicarage Road frontage looks as classy as ever, the view of the rear from the car park is shabby and the interior is jaded, too.

Despite its popular, acclaimed folk club upstairs, the Red Lion is easy to overlook because of its position on an awkward double junction.

How I’d love to demolish the ugly tower block next door and re-route the traffic to give this place the imposing position its stunning frontage so fully deserves.

Today, the Red Lion is run by Ember Inns, a chain we don’t visit too often because of its unsavoury ‘no under 14s rule’.

So I took my wife for a child-free pre-Mother’s Day weekend lunch, only to be left relatively disappointed by the fayre.

Despite the pub being a member of the Cask Marque Trust, my first pint of Purity Ubu was decidedly ‘off’.

I should have taken advantage of the ‘sip before you sup’ offer that lets you try any real ale of your fancy, but I have such faith in the locally-brewed Ubu brand I didn’t see the need