The Emerald is a place I'm mostly familiar with through functions - family and friends' birthday…read moreparties and the like. I don't think I've ever been there apart from such events, but I've always enjoyed the place when I have been. The function room is reasonably-sized and fits probably 100-200 people, with an appropriate bar and dancefloor and a good layout for buffets etc. There are a couple of other rooms, presumably a bar and a lounge, though as I say, I've only ever really been into the function room. I get the impression that the bar and lounge crowd don't take kindly to non-regulars, but I could be wrong on that. Prices are on par with other such places. There's a sizeable play area out the back so any daytime functions tend to find the kids playing football out there, though this may actually be a car park. The area that the club is in is a bit dodgy.

Stayed here a few days ago visiting Aston Birmingham. Rooms are quite nice for the price and the…read morestaff were friendly and helpful. Location wasn't the most attractive As it was in an industrial area but a stone throw away from Villa Park. The hotel is attached to the pub bar which had some strange characters, food was ok but one of the Irish locals made the eating experience uncomfortable being loud and somewhat aggressive to people. Overall the experience staying here was ok if you dont expect luxury.

nice friendly place. Happy hour mon-fri 3 til 8 50p off a pint. Sunday lunches 3 courses 4 pound…read more Daily specials from 3 pounds. Function room for hire 300 person capacity. All welcome. Also sunday night kareoke and bingo. Please bring your friends.

When we lived in Kingstanding we'd often pop along to the Royal British Legion on College Road…read more It's always been a friendly social club with a nice mix of people so we knew we'd bump into someone we knew, and even if we didn't the regular members are quite happy to have a chat. It's a members club, you can either join for the year or pay 50p admission on the door. We just used to pay the fee whenever we went down, but thinking about it now I reckon we'd have saved a packet if my fella had joined and just signed me in as a guest each time. There's a large car park and the Royal British Legion have recently built some rather nice smoking huts outside complete with benches so on a warm day you can just sit outside rather than popping in and out whenever you want a fag. Inside the club is on two levels with a large seating area downstairs and a snooker room upstairs with two full size tables. You can borrow snooker cues but they are not much cop so most regulars bring their own, there are spaces to lock up your personal cues upstairs and all you need to supply is a padlock. There is a small bar upstairs in the snooker room but it's not open very often so you have to go downstairs for your drinks and carry them back up, I suppose this is not ideal if you have mobility problems but then I suspect the stairs would be too much to cope with anyway. Downstairs is comfortable and laid out like one large lounge rather than a bar, seating is plentiful although this place gets so busy on a weekend that there is sometimes still no room to sit down and you have to grab a seat when you can. This isn't a problem though and is testament to how popular this little social club is. Most of the regulars are older ex-servicemen and the majority are very friendly, don't be alarmed though as very few of them keep on about the war although some are kind of like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses! You can buy a selection of sandwiches, as well as crisps from the Royal British Legion. The sandwiches are homemade before being wrapped in cling film and kept behind the bar so are not always fresh, I think common sense should tell you that if you visit at 8pm these cobs and sandwiches have probably been there all day so will not be at their best. I love their cheese and onion crusty cob which only costs about £1 and is delicious - even if they have no cobs on the day you visit there is an excellent chippy just over the road so grab yourself a meal and eat it at one of the benches on the car park! Sometimes the Royal British Legion will hold a special event which they charge to attend, in the Summer we went to the Family Funday with the kids and it was great. I think it was £1 per person but for that the kids spent literally hours on the bouncy castle and also had a burger and hot dog off the BBQ, there was balloon modelling and face painting too so they had a whale of a time. On a Saturday night there is sometimes a singer on, the girl we saw a few months back was fantastic. She was dressed in a cocktail dress and sang all the old tunes in such a wonderfully nostalgic voice - I saw several elderly people with tears in their eyes that night. If you live locally to the Royal British Legion pop in and show your support!

A good traditional style venue…read more I've been to this place many many times, role-playing on a Thursday night and it always been a place to hang out for the eve. The staff are very helpful and the prices are very reasonable. They have two function rooms both with their own bars and then two separate small bar areas. The function rooms could probably cope with around 100 downstairs and 50 upstairs. They hire them out at a very reasonable price I believe. Entry is via a door which is released from the bar. I think that has something to do with it being a 'social club' and the rules around that. I've never had a problem getting in at anytime though. It's nice to have that little bit of security I guess if you're having a function. They do have live music and shows at various times as well. I'll get some pics up sometime.

I have been going to the club for over a year, the club itself is nice, however many members of the…read moreclub who are also in the committee are passively racist. There are several incidents where they address you by your racial profile even though they know your name in front of a large audience and it id seemingly not discourage by other members of the committee and when brought to attention no apology was offered just a smug laugh from the members.