The Dilemma
They are less than two miles apart on Birmingham's south-western fringe, they both offer free parking, and they both sit well outside the city centre. On paper, the Old Rose & Crown Hotel and the Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery) are almost interchangeable. In practice, they are serving very different ideas of what a stay in this part of Birmingham should feel like.
The Old Rose & Crown is a Victorian heritage building with an on-site golf course, woodland on the doorstep, and the quiet ambiance of a countryside retreat delivered within Birmingham's city boundary. The Premier Inn is a clean, modern chain hotel: reliable, step-free, and engineered for families who want predictability, free parking, and Hollywood Bowl five minutes away.
Which one wins depends almost entirely on what you are actually trying to do when you get there.
The Arrival Reality
Old Rose & Crown Hotel: Heritage Charm, Shared Car Park FrictionArriving at the Old Rose & Crown by car is the natural and intended method, and the approach delivers. The entrance off Rose Hill is wide, the surroundings are green, and the building reads unmistakably as a Victorian heritage property, warm red brick, ornate detailing, birdsong. You feel like you have arrived somewhere with character before you have even checked in.
The friction point comes immediately afterwards. The car park is shared with the on-site golf club, and there is no signage distinguishing hotel guest spaces from golf member parking. On a busy weekend, when both golfers and hotel guests are competing for the same approximately 150 spaces, the car park has been observed looking nearly full. The car park is also a short walk from the hotel entrance itself, so the advice is clear: stop at reception first, unload your luggage, and then drive to park. Do not attempt to drag bags from a distant space when a simple drop-off makes it unnecessary.
Arriving by taxi is smooth, the entrance is unmissable from the road and drop-off is flat and direct. Arriving on foot from any railway station is not realistic. There is no nearby station, and the outer-residential location means a taxi from Birmingham city centre or Longbridge is the only practical option for non-drivers. EV charging was not observed on site.
Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery): The Easiest Arrival in the AreaIf arrival experience is the measure, the Premier Inn wins this section without argument. There are no one-way systems, no shared car parks, no competing user groups, no satnav pitfalls, and no Clean Air Zone charges, the hotel sits outside Birmingham's CAZ boundary entirely. Drive in, register your vehicle registration plate at reception, and you are done.
Taxis can pull directly into the hotel's own car park with a dedicated pull-in bay at the reception entrance, no kerbside awkwardness, no luggage drag. For guests arriving from Longbridge station, a 6-minute taxi ride delivers you smoothly to the door. The hotel is fully step-free at its entrance, making it genuinely comfortable for pushchairs and those with mobility needs.
The caveat is the same as the Old Rose & Crown: without a car, the location exposes its weaknesses. Longbridge station is a 32-minute walk, not viable with luggage. Bus stops are at Morrisons, a 9-minute walk from the hotel. Accept the car dependency and the arrival is excellent. Fight it, and both hotels will disappoint in roughly equal measure.
Arrival Winner: Premier Inn. No shared car park confusion, no signage gaps, dedicated taxi bay, and step-free access from the off.
The Location Trade-Off
Old Rose & Crown Hotel- Victorian heritage building with genuine countryside character on Birmingham's south-western edge
- Woodland with footpaths begins directly across the road, reachable in under two minutes
- On-site golf course: play, eat, sleep, repeat without touching a car
- Lickey Hills Country Park very close by for longer walks
- Duckpond Café just one minute away for morning coffee
- Local pubs and restaurants 7–11 minutes on foot, workable rather than spectacular
- No train station within walking distance, a car or taxi is essential
- No night economy, after dark, the area is deserted
- Residential and light-retail pocket: suburban, functional, and genuinely quiet
- Hollywood Bowl Birmingham Rubery and Frankie & Benny's both five minutes on foot
- Great Park Reservoir six minutes on foot for evening walks
- River Rea Trail accessible within 19 minutes on foot
- Morrisons nine minutes on foot for groceries
- M5 access is clean and fast, the West Midlands is your oyster by car
- Longbridge station 32 minutes on foot (6 minutes by taxi) for city-centre rail access
- Birmingham city centre is firmly at the far end of the city from here, not walkable by any measure
Location Winner: Old Rose & Crown. For genuine character and outdoor access, the Victorian heritage building, woodland, and golf course give the Rose & Crown a more distinctive sense of place. The Premier Inn's retail-park surroundings are functional but anonymous.
The Parking Reality
Both hotels offer free on-site parking, which is their single biggest shared advantage over city-centre alternatives. That headline figure masks an important difference in experience.
At the Old Rose & Crown, the car park is shared with the golf club. Approximately 150 spaces in total sounds generous, but at weekends and during golf events, competition for spaces is real and predictable. There is no signage to distinguish hotel guest spaces from golf member parking. You may arrive on a Saturday morning to find it nearly full. The walk from a distant space to the hotel entrance adds minor friction. Stop at reception first, unload, then park.
At the Premier Inn, the car park is on-site, dedicated to hotel guests, and free. Register your plate at reception and the transaction is complete. No competing user groups, no confusion over which spaces are yours, no unexpected walks from a distant bay. Families with buggies, guests with heavy luggage, and early morning departures all benefit from this simplicity.
Parking Winner: Premier Inn. Free in both cases, but the Premier Inn's dedicated, uncomplicated arrangement beats the shared car park friction of the Rose & Crown.
The Price Reality
The Premier Inn sits in the £ bracket. The Old Rose & Crown sits in the ££ bracket. Both represent good value in the context of Birmingham's accommodation market, neither is a budget-busting choice, but the Premier Inn carries a meaningful price advantage for comparable quality in this part of the city.
The real cost question is what you add on top. Both hotels include free parking, which eliminates the overnight car park fee that city-centre hotels routinely extract. At the Premier Inn, the room rate is typically lower and the parking is free, total trip cost stays genuinely low. At the Old Rose & Crown, you pay slightly more per night for the heritage character, the golf course access, and the countryside setting.
Price Winner: Premier Inn. Cheaper nightly rates plus free parking makes it the more affordable base, particularly for families on a budget.
The Use-Case Verdicts
For GolfersWinner: Old Rose & Crown Hotel
This is not a competition. The golf course is on site, play, return to the hotel, eat, sleep, and do it again the next morning without moving the car. No other combination of location, heritage charm, and golf convenience exists in Birmingham's south-western corridor. If golf is the reason for the visit, the search ends here.
For a Romantic WeekendWinner: Old Rose & Crown Hotel
The Victorian heritage building, woodland walks across the road, Lickey Hills on the doorstep, and the genuine countryside atmosphere create the conditions for a restorative weekend that chain hotels cannot replicate. Joe Joe Jim's Bar eleven minutes away for a music night, a morning walk through the trees, and dinner at The Old Hare and Hounds makes for an unhurried, genuinely pleasant couple of days. The Premier Inn is a perfectly comfortable room, but it sits next to a bowling alley and a Morrisons, romance requires a little more imagination.
For Families with Young ChildrenWinner: Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery)
Hollywood Bowl Birmingham Rubery five minutes on foot, Frankie & Benny's equally close, and M5 access to the West Midland Safari Park, Aztec Adventure near Bromsgrove, and the Severn Valley Railway makes the Premier Inn the stronger family base. The step-free, pushchair-friendly entrance and fully dedicated free car park seal it. The Rose & Crown has beautiful green space, but the entertainment infrastructure for families is firmly with the Premier Inn.
For Dog OwnersWinner: Old Rose & Crown Hotel
Woodland with footpaths directly across the road within a two-minute walk, the Lickey Hills Country Park very close by, and green space immediately outside the hotel makes the Rose & Crown exceptional for dogs. The Premier Inn offers the Great Park Reservoir six minutes away and the River Rea Trail within 19 minutes, which is genuinely good for a chain hotel, but the Rose & Crown puts you right on the edge of countryside the moment you step outside.
For a Quiet Night's SleepWinner: Tie
Both hotels sit in quiet, residential surroundings with no meaningful night economy nearby. The Rose & Crown's street goes deserted after dark; the Premier Inn's residential pocket is equally calm. Neither will trouble a light sleeper. If anything, the Premier Inn's proximity to Hollywood Bowl means fractionally more evening activity in the immediate area, but neither hotel has a noise problem worth worrying about.
For West Midlands Day Trips by CarWinner: Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery)
The Premier Inn's clean M5 access and lower nightly rate make it the smarter launchpad for families or groups who want to use the hotel as a base for two or three days of day trips, West Midland Safari Park, Severn Valley Railway, Bromsgrove, without paying city-centre prices or fighting city-centre traffic. Book two nights, load the car each morning, and you have an affordable West Midlands break. The Rose & Crown works for this too, but costs a little more.
For Business TravelWinner: Neither, but Old Rose & Crown for car-based, south Birmingham visits
For car-based business travellers covering the south Birmingham corridor and M5 routes, the Rose & Crown's free parking, peaceful environment, and Victorian character give it a marginal edge over the Premier Inn's chain anonymity. For anyone arriving by train or needing regular city-centre access, both locations are actively unhelpful, the city centre is at the far end of Birmingham from both hotels, and neither is near a train station on foot.
For Budget TravellersWinner: Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery)
The Premier Inn's £ price bracket, free parking, and predictable chain quality make it the honest budget choice for anyone who needs a clean, comfortable base without surprises. The Rose & Crown is not expensive, but the Premier Inn is cheaper, and for travellers who simply need a functional overnight stop before heading somewhere by car in the morning, that price gap matters.
The Hero Verdict
These two hotels sit within a short drive of each other, share free parking, and are both far removed from Birmingham city centre in any practical sense. The choice between them is not about location, it is about what kind of stay you want to have.
The Old Rose & Crown is a hotel with genuine personality. The Victorian building, the woodland across the road, the golf course on site, and the countryside atmosphere make it a place that earns its guests' loyalty rather than relying on brand familiarity. You pay a little more, you accept some shared car park friction at weekends, and you get a setting that chain hotels spend millions trying to manufacture with soft furnishings and mood lighting.
The Premier Inn is, by design, a different proposition. It does not try to have personality. It has consistency, cleanliness, step-free access, a dedicated car park, and Hollywood Bowl five minutes away. For families with young children, for budget-conscious travellers, and for anyone whose priority is a stress-free, predictable base rather than a distinctive experience, it does that job excellently.
Neither hotel is the right choice for city-centre access. Neither is suited to guests arriving by train without a taxi budget. And neither pretends to be something it is not, which is, in its own way, a kind of honesty that deserves credit.
Book Old Rose & Crown Hotel if:
- Golf is part of your stay, the course is on site and it is unbeatable for convenience
- You want a romantic weekend with countryside atmosphere rather than retail-park surroundings
- You are travelling with a dog and want woodland and Lickey Hills on the doorstep
- You value a heritage building with genuine character over brand consistency
- You are a car-based business traveller covering the south Birmingham and M5 corridor
- You want an evening out at a local music night, Joe Joe Jim's Bar is eleven minutes on foot
Book Premier Inn Birmingham South (Rubery) if:
- You are travelling as a family with young children and want Hollywood Bowl and Frankie & Benny's within walking distance
- You are using the hotel as a launchpad for West Midlands day trips via the M5
- Budget matters, the Premier Inn's £ bracket and dedicated free parking keeps total trip cost low
- You need step-free, pushchair-friendly access from arrival to room
- You want the reliability and consistency of a chain hotel with no surprises
- You want the Great Park Reservoir for an easy evening walk without needing a car
The Bottom Line: The Old Rose & Crown wins on character, atmosphere, and the kind of stay that leaves a memory. The Premier Inn wins on price, family practicality, and frictionless logistics. They are two miles apart and a world apart in what they offer. Choose based on what you actually need from a stay in this corner of Birmingham, and be honest with yourself about whether you have a car.
