Review: Fradley Arms, Lichfield's Best Desi Pub
Once a Georgian house on a Roman road, the Fradley Arms has fed travellers for over 200 years. Today it’s an Indian Bar & Grill, where mixed grills and biryani take the place of carveries. Different spices, same purpose - hearty food for people on the move.
There is something poetic about sitting down to a smoky mixed grill in a building that has been feeding travellers for more than two hundred years. The Fradley Arms, just outside Lichfield, has reinvented itself many times over. It began life in the late eighteenth century as a charming painted-brick house along Icknield Street (later known as Ryknild Street), the old Roman road that once carried legions north to south. The road later became the A38, and the house became an inn, a place of food and rest for people on the move. Today the property is Grade II listed, its sash windows, fan-lighted doorway, and three-storey L-shaped plan still visible reminders of its Georgian origins.
For much of its early history, inns like this were family affairs. Farming households often supplemented their income by brewing ale and opening their kitchens to strangers. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, census records show families in the Fradley area who were listed as both publicans and farmers. The rhythm of their lives would have been dictated by harvests, animals, and the steady stream of travellers who needed beds and hot meals.
As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, the Fradley Arms moved further from its farming roots and more firmly into the role of a licensed house. Licensing records and trade directories from the period show how many former farmhouses along major routes became tied houses, serving beer supplied by larger breweries while continuing to provide lodging and meals. The Fradley Arms would have been part of this shift, evolving from a household business into a recognisable pub. By the interwar years, roadside inns across Britain were adapting again, catering to motorists rather than horse-drawn travellers.
By the mid-twentieth century the Fradley Arms had grown into a full-fledged roadside pub. The age of the car turned inns into roadhouses, and this one became a familiar stop along the A38. It was big, family-oriented, and food-led. A Wacky Warehouse stood behind it, keeping children busy while parents lingered over plates of pub classics. A Premier Inn was added next door, part of the Whitbread model that paired affordable hotels with generous pubs. Greene King eventually took ownership, and for decades the Fradley Arms served up Sunday roasts, burgers and chips, and a steady flow of cask ale to weary travellers.
That chapter closed in 2022. Greene King confirmed the pub’s closure and staff were moved to other sites. The Fradley Arms stood quiet for the first time in more than two centuries. For a while it looked like another casualty of changing habits and corporate churn.
Then a new story began. In late 2024, the site was acquired by VR Group, a British-Indian hospitality company, and reopened as the Fradley Arms Indian Bar & Grill.
Walking in today, the layout still tells you this was once a roadside pub. Large tables, a busy bar, families ordering in groups. What has changed is the menu. The carvery and pub grub have given way to dishes that are firmly rooted in Midlands desi-pub culture.
The mixed grill is the obvious centrepiece. It comes out sizzling, a heavy cast-iron platter of chicken tikka, sheekh kebabs, fish pakora and charred peppers. It is built to be shared, much like the roasts that came before it, but with smoke and spice doing the work once left to gravy.
The lamb biryani is just as commanding, aromatic and layered. Around these two anchors, the rest of the table fills up quickly – pilau rice flecked with mushrooms, garlic naans in generous stacks, fluffly basmati rice. There are still chips on the table, and they sit without awkwardness next to the curries and breads. That mix of old and new is precisely what defines the Indian bar and grill format. It respects the habits of a British pub while bringing in flavours that reflect who actually owns and runs some of these spaces today.
Seen this way, the food is not a rupture with the past but an adaptation. The pub has always been about volume, about feeding groups, about dishes that travel well from kitchen to table. The format remains, only the spices are different.
The Fradley Arms has passed through many hands and many menus. Each has mirrored the culture of its time. The current chapter happens to be Indian, and it feels right at home in the Midlands, where the desi pub story first took root in Birmingham and the Black Country before spreading outward.
If you’re anywhere near Lichfield, it’s worth a stop. The Fradley Arms may no longer serve carveries, but the mixed grill, biryani and naan prove that this Georgian house is still doing what it was built for: feeding travellers well.
About me...I'm Lorna Rose and, by day, I work in the tech industry, but in my heart of hearts, I've always been fascinated by the story that food tells. The magic of a well-cooked meal, the way a simple dish can bring people together, spark conversation, and create lasting memories. On Happy Bellies, I set out to explore and find hidden gems, so that I can indulge in telling stories around food that will make you want to go out and create your own foodie adventures.
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