please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Still a decent pub, no problems with the locals, efficient barmaid, 8 pumps with 7 ales on; I had Stonehouse 'Station Ritter' [smooth pint], Salopian 'Oracle' [zesty, tasty pint], & Mad dag Brewing Co. 'Stouty McStoutface' [ a nice smooth pint].
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Still just okay and still suffering from obstructionist locals.
anonymous - 18 Jan 2018 16:57 |
Decent tidy pub, tables placed out front for smokers, friendly & helpful barmaid. 8 ales on, I had Salopian ''Treasure Trove'' [tasty pint], Brass Castle ''Misfit'' [tasty with citrus hints] & Salopian ''Lemon Dream'' [ nice pint with, yes, lemon flavour].
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A lot of local ales on at this pub, didn't bother making a note of them but I went for Hobsons Best Bitter, at 3.10 it was nice and well kept. The barmaids were quite friendly and the bouncer on the door was a decent lad as bouncers go (he wasn't intimidating and was fairly laid back). The bar is an L shape and there's a reasonable amount of seating around the bar. I would like to stress that this place is more like a 'bar' not a pub, it had Spanish football on the television and house music playing when we were in. The only thing about this place was some of the clientele in the bar when I was in here. I'm sure the barmaid who served me didn't appreciate the way they kept asking her for her number and I found the conversation of a couple of other lads taking about 'no means yes' was quite frankly disturbing. But I won't judge the bar on this, they advertise that they do a happy hour during the week with the ale being 2.50 a pint.
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Although this is a great pub the locals seem to not give an inch of space to pass them. Plenty of seats available but they choose to sit in a pathway near the bar that blocks your route to the toilet. Also try getting past them in the pub itself, oh and yes an excuse me was said.
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First stop off in a 6 pub crawl around this fine town. Afraid this was the probably came 6th in the list.
OK - lots of real ale choices but the barmaids spend 10 minutes arguing with each other about the quality of my Stonehouse Station Bitter and then offered free tasters to the regulars to make sure it was OK after ignoring my request to change it for something that required less debate.
The beer was OK - but you know when your suspicions are aroused.
Some photos at my blog - http://mappiman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/270615-shrewsbury-pub-crawl.html
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Vile looking pub with its shrieking red walls and multiple TVs. Saved, however, by a splendid choice of eight real ales (my Stonehouse Station Bitter slipped down well), boisterous atmosphere and the cheeriest barmaid in Shropshire.
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Still an okay pub apart from a few locals who hog the bar (when pub virtually empty) making it difficult to get served.
anonymous - 12 Aug 2014 18:26 |
Popped in for the first time in ages - nothing much has changed. Great range of beers and other drinks. It is more a bar than a pub, but that's mainly down to its location and fairly small inside space. Nice for a pint or two of top-notch local ale. But there are other pubs in the vicinity that should be visited too!
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Pretty basic but excellent place for real beers. Had a pint or two of porter and they were very good. About 5 to 8 minutes walk from the railway station and even less from the bus station.
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Thoroughly enjoyed this pub on Saturday lunchtime. Yes, it a busy sports bar and it should be reviewed as such, in my opinion. Difficult to beat the choice of draught ales and ciders. 5 or 6 types of traditional cider, including spectacular Cheddar Valley. I ordered a pint of Cheddar Valley and a coronation chicken bap and was relieved of £4-25 in total. Similar story elsewhere in Shrewsbury which has loads of pubs all of which seem to be well frequented - no wonder at those prices.
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On walking in, your first impression is the bright, trendy interior which might put off the lover of traditional boozers. However there at least 8 hand pumps and the beer quality is excellent so it should not be missed on a pub crawl of Shrewsbury.
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Free house corner pub on Smithfield Road overlooking the river oh and the main road!
8 ales on tap all being from different breweries. My pint of Oracle from Salopian Brewery was good and at £3.00 no compliant from this London lad.
As the weather was so good I took my pint out front but I did catch a glimpse of the new famous painted interior. It is a bit bright but it's certainly not offensive or sickly.
Interesting to see a pump dispensing punk ipa from brew dog.
Decent pub, I think previous reviewers need to get beyond the bright painted walls and enjoy this pub.
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If Your a local i dont really think this pub can be put down , the ales are always excellent , the decor is to suit the friday/saturday night drinker but all in all an excellent pub with good local ales
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If the local CAMRA branch vote this as Pub of the Year, then they must be blind. Yes, the beer is wide ranging & very good. However, the walls are bright red & as a result, the pub isn't at all welcoming. The settees taking up half of the front of the pub are pointless - if I want to sit on something like that, I'll stay at home.
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Visited on 27 October to see the mighty U's v the Shrews. Visited this as it's the CAMRA pub of the year, now I now this isn't ambience in the evening or architecture in the evening, but this doesn't look the most welcoming pub and the inside is even worse than the outside. The interior is vile, the decor horrible, with huge screens nailed to every wall. My mate thought it looked like the toilets in the Shining! The beers that the three of us had were very good, but my mate who came down with his wife, didn't go as she refused to enter as it looked so bad. Not one for pleasant evening or lunchtime with the wife or girlfriend.
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1st time visit yesterday. Felt like a bit of a hybrid, part pub, part sports bar and part louge. Beer range was excellent, with a beer from the new Shrosphire Brewery DIckensian on the bar, the three ales I tried were all in very good condition. Looked like a decent range of Belgian / foreign beers, but mostly safe choices. Draught ciders perries available from the cellar. Leather settees, and high-stools and tables dotted around, but plenty of room around the bar for verticle drinking.
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This place is quite hard to judge really. Although the real ale/real cider along with the extensive belgian offerings, is top notch the furnishings are unremarkable with no outstanding features. I counted up to 8 handpumps on the bar.
A pub that's in the GBG and also offers a discount for CAMRA members. Got chatting quite easily with the locals and regulars. In fact, I had quite a good time and a laugh as the banter flowed along with the ales. I had a pint of 'Dark Side of the Moose' brewed by Ochr Dywyll Y Mws. Don't ask me to pronounce it though! It was obviously a Welsh porter/stout and was like amber nectar.
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Saturday was my second visit to the Salopian. Last time, I thought this was the best pub in Shrewsbury. I was still impressed this time. But we did find one better - the Admiral Benbow. Nevertheless, the Salopian was far less packed on a Saturday afternoon than it gets on a weekend evening, making for a far more pleasant and relaxing drinking experience. Beers on were Salopian Oracle & Lemon Dream, Darkstar Hophead, Stonehouse Station Bitter, Woods Shropshire Lad, Bathams Best, Fyne Rune & Thornbridge Sequoia. Ciders and perries brought from the cellar were Westons Traditional Scrumpy & Country Perry, Renshaws Red Eye & Thatchers Cheddar Valley. We soon moved onto the Renshaws Damson Cider (11%) and the Flying Dog Imperial Porter (9%), which sent us merrily on our way! As others have said, the bottled selection here is impressive. This is still an essential stop on any trip to Shrewsbury and my 8/10 score still stands.
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Excellent pub/bar. Good choice of beers on. I was surprised (and a little amused) by the chap behind the bar's reaction when I ordered a pint of Wood's. It's not my favourite beer, but when in Rome, I thought. Anyway he said something like, "God, why do you want to drink that stuff, it's so boring. God. Why not have the Dark Star or something?" I told him that I can get that anytime in London. Anyway, encouraged by his reaction, I suggested he not charge me for the offending beer in question. You can guess the response. Anyway, it's good to have a few characters behind the bar!
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Great choice, pale ales aplenty, always kept in excellent condition. So the beer gets maximum marks. It aims at a wide range of customers, so it's not just a quiet real ale heaven, two TVs & so very busy at a weekend.
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Enjoyed it - great range of beer. Bathams Bitter and Stonehouse Station Bitter were both good as was the Oakham Citra. Loyalty cards available plus the 10p a pint CAMRA discount. Modern interior with some high tables and low settees. TV screens showing sport (no sound when we went). Snacks available and they do a fair range of foreign bottled beers. Handy for both the bus and railway stations; the river and the theatre and just down the hill from the town centre. Well worth a visit.
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Modern wine bar style, mix of ages, very busy on a Saturday night. We had the Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and the Burton Bridge Top Drop, both should have been much better than they were. Perhaps more of a social pub than a real ale drinkers one.
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Great pub. 6-7 ales on constantly. Stonehouse Station Bitter a regular. Discount for CAMRA members. Regular beer festivals.
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If you are in Shrewsbury you have to visit. Great no super beer. Salopian, Three Tuns and Wye Valley all on at time of visit. Lovely.
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While on a town crawl (29th Jan 2011) we called in and stumbled across a Belgian Beer festival here ... :�p
Our main reason for calling in here - the Real Ales - are always in superb condition, and they have an excellent varied choice on !
One *NOT* to walk past when in Shrewsbury ... well done guys !
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Great beer list including ciders and perries. Had the Stonehaouse Station Bitter (meh), Oakham's Bishops Farewell (lovely) and Westons Country Perry (super smashing great). Not so keen on the sports bar interior, too modern and cool for my taste.
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Seeing the bouncers on the door and the packed inside with a fight to get to the bar reminiscent of my clubbing days, I wasn't expecting too much of this place. But the range of beers is good and the range of ciders is excellent. Oakham JHB & Citra, Skinners Betty Stogs, York Guzzler, Bathams Best, Salopian Lemon Dream and Stonehouse Station Bitter were the beers. Since when have you seen a pub with 2 lemon beers? Ciders and perries were Renshaw's Red Eye, Wrenbury Browns, Old Monty's, Chapple's, Thatchers Cheddar Valley, Westons Traditional Scrumpy & Country Perry, Ralph's Medium Cider & Perry & Newton's Perry. The bar also has a fine selection of American beers in bottles. The interior is plan with red walls. In fact I lost track as to exactly how many Shropshire pubs seemed to have a red colour scheme. Artwork can be seen on the walls and the furnishings are all modern. Throughout my consumption of cider, the pub remained busy and noisy with several groups coming and going. The pub has fruit and games machines. Music continued playing whilst a TV was showing varying sporting events. Not usually my kind of establishment. But the choice of drinks is it main attraction.
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Modern interior and sports (as in watching) orientated bar. Had a decent pint of Stonehouse Station Bitter. Quite good for this genre of pub - usually expect them to be kids and all lager but was more older folk and proper ale.
anonymous - 31 Oct 2010 15:38 |
Enthusiastic landlord serving a good variety of beer. Oakham JHB usually on. When we were there there was also the very hard to find Bathams bitter.
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Called into Salopian Bar again earlier this afternoon and enjoyed 4 pints of Carling whilst watching the Netherlands v Japan & Ghana v Australia World Cup matches and also the annual Shrewsbury Carnival which passed outside. A quite brilliant way to spend a sunny afternoon in Shrewsbury!
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good range of real ales, was not dissapointed, landlord was very helpful telling me all about the beers that were there. could of stayed all day and had the rest of the ales, but had to dash, always another day
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Local Camra pub of the year for 2008 and 2009. Judged on beer alone an understandable achievement. 7 or so real ales on ,all in good condition and reasonably priced, with a regional bias served by very friendly staff.
Previous reviewer Booze Allen was still sober at this point on his crawl - indeed the pub has all four interior walls painted in a bright garish red. If this is your favourite colour then maybe a great regular haunt.
Lots of sky tv too.
Verdict: A good breeding ground for weaning youngsters off larger on to proper beer.
The presence of the bouncer may reason they have already found it. Certainly no suggestion that he was needed, and this pub should feature on any crawl.
R18
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This was near the end of my crawl and things were getting a little hazy at that point however the beer range was good and the Stonehouse KPA was top notch. I seem to remember a red interior and not thinking it not very pub like. Worth it for the beer alone in anycase.
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Visited the Salopian Bar again yesterday afternoon and enjoyed 4 pints of Stonehouse Station Bitter whilst watching the football results on Sky Sports News. Absolute heaven! My rating for this place goes up to a perfect 10.
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Called into Salopian Bar again Friday afternoon and enjoyed 2 pints of Stonehouse Station Bitter, before switching to Titanic First Class and enjoyed 2 pints of that. An excellent experience - I'll keep coming back!
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Top notch pub - don't be fooled by the untraditional modern cafe-bar style, it is a real beer drinkers destination pub. Very large range of real ales and bottled beers, and my pint of Dark Side of the Moose from the excellent Purple Moose brewery was first class. Very knowledgable barman too. Had to dash, but would happily have stayed there all afternoon.
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This is another pub I regularly visit when in town centre. Fabulous range of real ales to choose from, very friendly staff and filled rolls such as beef ,ham and cheese too. Went in yesterday and had 4 excellent pints of Stonehouse Station and a beef roll. Will definitely call again. Well recommended to any BITE member.
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Although modern interior not to my taste it is a good clean pub serving excellent ales and it is the ales I am there for. Well done on CAMRA award. There are a lot of good pubs competing for it making Shrewsbury a good place for an afternoon crawl. Enjoyed beers from Three Tuns and Stonehouse this visit.
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To be honest the best pulled set of pints I have ever tasted - the pub itself is too modern for my liking so we sat outside on a late summers evening and enjoyed a great selection of pints of beer and ciders. This is the best pub in Shrewsbury (which is praise indeed due to the high number of good real ale pubs in this town
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Good range of beers and nice to see they have won a CAMRA Pub of the Year award - but a serious dearth of comfortable seating restricted my visit to one pint.
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Agree with the other comments, modern ambience not usually my cup of tea but this is tempered by the excellent selection of local real ales and relaxed atmosphere. Lots of papers to read and comfy seating. Even if you're a traditionalist you should try to get in here if you've time.
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Got in this time , good choice of beer had Six Bells Harry Porter exelent, well worth a visit
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Rammed at 4-15 on a saturday , bouncer wouldnt let us in ...... pity
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As a more traditional pub lover, i would expected to hate this pub and i went in grumbling that the extrior was too boring and the interior to garish, the name should be changed to the Salopian - drop the bar bit etc etc.
The interior was trendy, with a large central bar area.
Thing is, i found i really liked it - the atmosphere was good, several real ales on. I had the Old Castle Rock, which was a quality MILD and other drinks included Dark Star.
Will have to go back
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What a pleasant surprise. Bathams and other guest ales including Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild, along with a selection of Belgian beers. Sky Sports and sofas, and within two minutes walk of the bus station.
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6 real ales on, including 3 locals. Friendly staff and newspapers/magazines located about the place. Show your CAMRA membership card and get a discount on ale and cider. Shame the road outside is so busy, otherwise this place would be perfect.
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From the outside this looks like a traditional pub. On the inside it is more like a wine bar. Garish red walls, leather sofas & black & white prints of iconic film stars on the walls. However it is very clean & tidy with fresh daffodils on each table on the 3 occasions we went. Good choice of real ales (6 handpulls & I think they were all in use) & Belgium beers. I particularly enjoyed Hophead from DarkStar brewery. I didn't really enjoy the live music sets they had as it is really too small a venue to be able to carry this off.
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A lovely, friendly place to drink. Good selection of well kept ales on tap and an interesting range of bottled beers. Modern decor is a nice change from the usual old fashioned style that many real ale pubs already have. I will make this a regular haunt when I'm in Shrewsbury.
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After some terrible pints in the run up to here(albion vaults,rock and fountain,hole in the wall,kings head etc) this place proved a very very very welcome retreat,lovely pint of stonehouse - station bitter. Second best pub visited over weekend, 8/10
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This place is really a wine bar with lots of real ale. Bright red walls and comfortable leather sofas. Not really my sort of place when I'm on my own but when I'm out with the other half it's a very good compromise. I get good beer and she gets good wine. 10p per pint off for CAMRA members as well.
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A banner outside proclaims "Shropshire Pub of the Year 2008". I appreciate that people have different aspirations for a pub but I found it lacking in character. it has that gastropub, trendy decor ambience but worse, dreadful disco type music was emanating from the speakers, although to be fair, this may not always be the case. The young landlord has done an excellent job with the beer range and quality but there are some fantastic Shropshire pubs and to my taste, this isn't one of them.
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Fantastic place to visit. Interesting selection of real ales and Belgian beers...we had a strawberry concoction that reminded me of childhood sweeties but packed a lovely punch.
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Have been for the first time. The Salopian doesn�t have the usual British pub d�cor. In fact it doesn�t even call itself a pub - it a Bar. But its ambiance stands out in a great way. It does great food and great beer - and great cider. It�s the Shropshire pub of the year 2008, and deservedly so. I even think its better than my local pub of the year.
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I visited this pub as it has appeared in the Good Beer Guide, It is very modern and therefore appears cold compared to older traditional pubs, but there is nothing wrong with the service or the beer. Good choice of ales too. The young management deserve to do well.
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