SHREWSBURY

Trail 1 - Station to Welsh Bridge

Welcome to Pub Trails - SHREWSBURY

Trail 1 - Station to Welsh Bridge

Shrewsbury is an Historic market town near the England-Wales border. The centre of the town is almost surrounded by a loop in the River Severn.  One road comes in from the North, close to the railway station, without crossing the river while two roads enter the town centre by bridges, one called the English Bridge and the other The Welsh Bridge.

Shrewsbury is the county town from Shropshire. It is actually a large town with around 100,000 of a population. However, the city centre seems removed from this largeness as it is 80% surrounded by the River Severn which gives it a separate feel. This is where the old town was and the new is built with and on it.

Shopping is varied with national chain stores in the shopping centres and local shops and boutiques in the local streets. The centre has many pubs, cafes and restaurants

Shrewsbury has an Abbey (associated with the fictional character Brother Cadfael from the books by Ellis Peters), a Cathedral and a Castle.

Nearby is the World Heritage site of Ironbridge, also Stokesay Castle and Acton Burnell Castle. Nearby National Trust properties include Attingham Park and Cronkhill Villa.

There are Four Trails running on from one another therefore you can actually start at any of the pubs and move on the number you wish. The complete trail will start at the railway station and return there at the end.

First Section - to the Welsh bridge and river . (blue icons)

Second - Into the town

Third - Down to the English Bridge

Fourth - Returning to the Station

 Leaving the station car park cross over at the cross-roads up the main Road, Castle Gates where The Bull’s Head is on the left. Cross over and go down Meadow Place towards the river to where The Alb is. Continue along the road which runs parallel to the river. At the next corner is The Salopian. Keep walking along the road and at the next corner turn left into Mardol where The King's Head is immediately on your left. On the opposite corner is The Shrewsbury Hotel. The Hotel's car park ends where the main road meets The Welsh Bridge. Cross over here to keep walking by the river. In quick succession are (on next page) Hickory's (formerly The Waterfront) and The Armoury. Cutting back there is a pathway between These two pubs. Walking up the brings you to Montgomery's Tower.

Pub Facts

The 28 pubs in the Shrewsbury Trail cater for a wide range of customers.

There are cafe-bars, restaurant-bars, old corner pubs, food-bars, shiny new lounges and some past their sell by date.

 

Most pubs have real ale and some have lots of it. the vast majority offer food and some are food places that offer beer.

 

There is a lot of outside seating available. most try to offer at least seating by the road to watch the shoppers go by. A few have actual beer gardens but many more have some sort of patio or at least a small open area for smokers.

 Bull’s Head

Bull’s Head (Marston’s) has a square shaped servery serving the bar at the entrance.  There are some seats by the window then a fireplace wall leading around the bar to pool area. There is a warning that leaning on fire could be dangerous! A larger lounge is round to the right via a narrow space between bar and wall.

Have a half pint

Real Ale:     Pedigree; Banks’s Bitter

Bitter:           Mansfield Smoothflow

Lager:         Stella; Carlsberg

Cider:         Thatcher's Gold;    Strongbow    Guinness

The Alb

The Alb is a recently modernised and shifted up-market small lounge with and upstairs restaurant. Food and cocktails are highlighted. The beers are hidden to the left of the servery. There are dining style tables along the window side with tall tables and stools in the centre. It has a seating area outside on wide pavement.

Have a half pint here

Real Ale:   Shropshire Gold (Salopian); Doombar; Zombie

Lager:       Peroni; Coors Light; Blue Moon; Grolsch

Cider:       Stowford press                              Guinness

Pub Jukebox:

Alcohol themed music to listen to while you browse.

Wide Eyed & Legless - Andy Fairweather Lowe

PLACES TO VISIT WITH PUBTRAILS

 The towns and villages highlighted on this web site have a wide variety of pubs and beers in them.  All of the places are great to visit, whether for a day or longer, and most have tourist attractions for all of the family.

There is a large variety of pubs throughout the different towns shown below. Some you may wish never to visit again but even discovering these can be interesting. There are pubs that you would not take your wife into. While some you could not take your girlfriend into. A few you would not take either into. However, most of the pubs are very pleasant.

HOME MAP of places visited

Alnwick Ambleside Anstruther Bakewell Bamburgh Barnard Castle Bath Berwick upon Tweed Birnam & Dunkeld Bourton on the Water Bowness on Windermere Bridge of Allan Chester Chichester Dunblane Dunoon Edinburgh Ely Fort William Glasgow Gourock Greenock                   Helensburgh   Inverness Kelso Keswick Knaresborough Largs Linlithgow Lyme Regis Melrose Montrose Newton Stewart North Berwick Norwich Oban Pebbles Penzance Portree Pitlochry Quorn Richmond Rothesay St Andrews Seahouses Seend Shrewsbury Skipton Stirling Stratford-upon-Avon Stockton Heath Whitby Windemere Whitstable York

The Salopian ★ ❤

The Salopian is a bright blue bar on a corner opposite the river. There is some outside seating by the road. Inside there is a modern bar with a servery mainly to the front but with a small counter to the right. The room is L-shaped around the servery with some small tables opposite the counter, tall tables in the far corner and lower tables around the corner. They try to have 8 real ales on. There are several TVs showing sports all the time.

This pub has been Shrewsbury and West Shropshire CAMRA pub of the year 2008, 2009, 2011 , 2012 and

Good Beer Guide regular, including 2023, 2024, 2025

Have three here!

Real Ale : Oracle (Salopian);  Millstone (True Grit); Harbour Brewing Light Ale; Kashmir (Salopian) ; Seville (Dark Star); Infinity (blue Monkey);Station (Stonehouse); Citra (Oakham)

Lager: Grolsch;  Carling

Cider                      Guinness

 The King’s Head

King’s Head is an old (14th Century?) pub and looks it from the outside. Inside is opened up giving lots of room with darkness the only reference to a past age. There are table and seats to either side of the main door and the servery is past a large standing area.

Have a half pint here

Real Ale : Mojo (Robinsons); Doombar; Joker (Backyard) Side Pocket (Tring)

Bitter:  John Smiths

Lager: Carling; Stella

Cider;  Stowford press               Guinness

Pub Quiz

What type of creature is a flying fox?      

Answer at foot of page

 The Shrewsbury Hotel

The Shrewsbury Hotel is a Wetherspoons hotel. The servery is straight in the door and stretches to the right and left. The drinking/dining area is splits into several sections, a couple very small, to fit the opening up of the building.

A half pint here

CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025

Real Ale: Jurassic (DBC);  Victory at waterloo (lees); Doom bar; Abbot; Greene king IPA; Nightmare (Hambleton);   Nognec Asian pale Ale

Bitter:       John Smith

Lager:      Heineken;  Fosters; Tuborg;  Stella; 1664;

Cider:    Strongbow           Guinness

Hickory's (was The Waterfront)

Hickory's (formerly The Waterfront)

This report is on The Waterfront - part of the steak house chain, has a large frontage with a balcony containing tables and chairs either side of the large doorway. Inside it is one large squarish room with a high ornate ceiling. It is the bar -restaurant part of a complex which includes the night club called Bonds. The Waterfront has tiled area at the servery but the main area is a wooden floor with tables and chairs. The wall opposite the servery has large bookcases decorating the wall and several booths for sitting in. As a food place with carvery, it had a lingering smell of food.

Have a pint here

Real Ale :  Tribute; Atlantic (sharps); Doombar; Darwin’s Origin; Lemon Dream (both Salopian); Shropshire;   Hills beauty (Wood’s)

Lager:        Carling; Peroni; Sharp’s pilsner

Cider:          Aspall;  Stowford Press                           Guinness

 The Armoury

The Armoury (Brunning & Price) is a former late 18th century armoury and then a bakery. It is an impressively large building both in area and volume. The large arched windows let in lots of light. The servery and standing to drink area is in front of the entrance. To the right and left are large tabled areas for eating.

Food and service is up to the chain’s usual high standard,

Have some here

Real Ale:    Cheshire Cat (Weetwood); The Golden arrow (Longden); Oracle (Salopian); Off The Rails  (Stonehouse); Shropshire Lad (Wood’s); Brunning & Price

Original Bitter; KPA (Stonehouse) ; Arizona (Phoenix); Mojo ( Monty’s)

Lager:          Becks; Carling; Lowenbrua

Cider:    Rosie pig ; Stowford press; Aspall                              Guinness

Montgomery’s Tower 

Montgomery’s Tower is a large Lloyd’s No 1with two very distinct serving and drinking areas. Both the areas have a variety of seating and table heights. The right hand side is smaller and darker with the large servery straight ahead. This side is quieter during the day. This is because the left hand has picture windows down both sides of the building making it much lighter and attractive. The servery here is round to the right. Off of this area is a small patio.

CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2024

Have a pint here

Real Ale: Shropshire lad; Shropshire Gold; Doombar; Post Horn (Coach House); Double Header; End of days (Blackwater)

Bitter:  John Smith; Devil’s Backbone

Lager:   Tuborg; Carlsberg; 1664; Stella

Cider:    Stowford press;                Guinness

Links for SHREWSBURY city centre Pubtrails

  • Trail 2 - Into the town

    (yellow icons)

    The Loopy Shrew (formerly Bellstone)

    Morgan’s

    The Coach and Horses

    The Admiral Benbow

    Ashley's

    The Hole In The Wall

    The Three Fishes

    The Bull Inn

  • Trail 3 -Down to the English Bridge

    (green icons)

    The Three Fishes

    The Wheatsheaf

    The Old Post Office

    The Lion Hotel

    The Henry Tudor House

    The Hop and Friar

    The Lion and Pheasant.

    The Nag's Head.

  • Trail 4 -return to the station

    (purple icons)

    The Lion Hotel

    Cromwell's Wine bar.

    Darwin's Kitchen & bar

    The Loggerheads

    The Bull Inn

    Yorkshire House

    The Vaults

    The Bull's Head

Other places with several trails

Other interesting pages

  • Books on Beer

    A variety of books that investigate styles of beers and brewing.

  • Books on Pubs

    A variety of books looking at the development of public houses.

  • Map of CAMRA branches

    Map of CAMRA branches and e-mail links

“While beer brings gladness, don’t forget t

hat water only makes you wet.”

 

 

— H L Wilson.

ANSWER: a bat