SHREWSBURY
Trail 2 - into the town
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
Coming out of Montgomery's Tower (trail 1) cross the road and turn left at the corner. Walk up the left hand side of this road until you reach The Bellstone on the corner of a lane. Leaving here walk up to the next corner and visit Morgan's (closed).
On exit turn to the right and follow the road around and up a slight hill (St John's Hill) and turn into Cross hill on the left. Walk up this narrow road and on the corner will be The Coach and Horses (Go in by the door on the corner.)
Leaving The Coach and Horses walk down the hill and two buildings further on is The Admiral Benbow, then continue down the hill and turn left. At the next right-hand corner is Ashley's. Now move on up the street and reach The Hole In The Wall.
The Bellstone - now The Loopy Shrew
Now called The Loopy Shrew
Report for, formerly The Bellstone, is a large modern pub on two levels and is the bar and restaurant of the Bellstone boutique hotel above it. A relaxing seating area with lots of couches. Then a short flight of stairs leads up to a large room and at the L-shaped bar. This serves a room with upholstered group seating around side the and a restaurant area.
Have a half pint here.
Morgan’s
Morgan’s is the cafe-bar and bar dining of The Exchange Hotel and restaurant. There is outside seating on the large corner pavement. It is attractively and brightly decorated with a wooden floor and servery. The spacious bar area has a mixture of bar stools, couches and tall tables as well as plenty of standing space. This opens out to a bar dining area.
have a pint here
Real Ale : Shropshire Gold
Bitter:
Lager: Estrella; Carling; Grolsch; Kozel; Coor’s Light
Cider : Stowford press Guinness
The Coach and Horses ★
The Coach and Horses, dating from 1861, is a corner pub with a restaurant. The corner door takes you into a small triangular bar with fireplace and 5 tables. A screen pulls down in front of fireplace wall to show TV events. Round to the left is a small hexagonal snug. Down a short passage, which connects to the side entrance, and to the right is the lounge. The lounge has a large restaurant stretching off to the left. The chef reached the quarter finals of masterchef.
Good beer Guide 2020
Have several here.
Real ale: Oracle (Salopian); Ow Do (Six Bells Brewery); Twisted Spire (Hobsons); Rye IPA (Slaters)
Lager: Stella, Stella Black; Becks
Cider: Sweeney Mountain; Rekorderlig; Thatchers Guinness
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
Admiral Benbow ★
Admiral Benbow (1836) is now a one roomed pub. The main L-shaped servery and standing area is to the left. To the right is a tabled area with service from the side counter. Further on from this room is access to an outside cobbled courtyard.
The pub is only open during the day (from midday) on Saturday and opens at 7pm on Sunday and 5pm during the week
Good Beer Guide regular …. including 2023
Have several here
Real Ale: Top Totty (Slaters); Golden Arrow (Longden); Ditch Chase (Wonderstuff) IPA Gold (Ludlow); Lemon Dream and Labyrinth (both Salopian)
Lager:
Cider: Rosie’s Triple D; Wasp Guinness
Ashley’s
Ashley’s has a corner position. It is a very busy trendy food/drink bar. Couches and tables with stools at side windows looking out over road. Well worm wooden floor testifies to its popularity. Outside seating fenced off, on busy pavement. Not as big as outside makes it look but they can cram a lot of people and musicians into it fine. Closed Sunday and shuts early evening Monday to Wednesday.
have a half pint
Lager: Heineken; Amstel; Birra Moretti;
Cider: Strongbow; Symonds Guinness
Hole In The Wall
Hole In The Wall and attractive thin three story building from the outside. Inside you pass through the expected small room with no bar (!) and wonder around to a very large food/beer/TV sports place. This is a disappointment to what was expected from the outside. This disappointment does not entirely go away with families eating, food smell and lots of noise though the attractiveness does grow on you.
have a pint
Real Ale : Pedigree; Doom Bar; Greene King IPA
Lager: Carling; Carlsberg; Becks
Cider Guinness
The Three Fishes ★
The Three Fishes is a lovely one roomed pub. The bar is in the centre of the room. The servery is the middle of the left-hand side. It L-shaped bar serves to the left and front. Seating and dining tables are before and after the bar area.
Good Beer guide regular, including 2023, 2024, 2025
Have one here
Real Ale : Landlord; Inferno (Oakham); Trooper; Three Tuns Stout; Disintegration
Lager: Freedom (craft – Abbot Bromley); Stella;
Cider : Old Rosie; Addlestones; Thatchers Guinness; Three Tuns Stout
The Bull Inn
The Bull Inn (Marston’s) entrance takes you to a large room, with some tables it is mainly a standing area, with the servery at the far end. Going round to the right of this the pub opens into another room with table seating. This room then extends, and narrows, going to the rear of the pub. This also leads to a beer garden. There is outside seating at the front as well.
Have one here
Real ale: Banks’s Bitter; Hobgoblin; Bloomin Marvellous; Canadian Red
Lager: Carling; Peroni; Budweisser; San Miguel
Cider: Stowford press Guinness
Yorkshire House ★
Yorkshire House is a two roomed dark rock music drinking pub. The walls are Iron Maiden colouring and decorated with names of heavy metal bands. Full sized models of a wizard and a space warrior decorate the space to the left of the door. The servery is just inside the door to the left with a large sitting room to the right and a similar one through at the other side of the bar.
Have a pint here.
Real Ale: HAP (Wye Valley); Mad Goose (Purity); Trooper (Robinsons)
Lager: Carling; Coors Light; Stella
Cider: Old Rosie; Stowford press; Strongbow Guinness
Links for SHREWSBURY city centre Pubtrails
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Trail 1 - Station to Welsh Bridge
(blue icons)
Bulls Head
The Alb
The Salopian
The King's Head
The Shrewsbury Hotel.
Hickory's (formerly The Waterfront)
The Armoury
Montgomery's Tower
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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.
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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
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Glasgow
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York
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Norwich
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Edinburgh
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Whitby
ANSWER: 116 years
Other interesting pages
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Books on Beer
A variety of books that investigate styles of beers and brewing.
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Books on Pubs
A variety of books looking at the development of public houses.
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Map of CAMRA branches
Map of CAMRA branches and e-mail links