CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

SHROPSHIRE - Shrewsbury, Loggerheads

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One

1 Church Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1UG

Tel: 01743 344226

Draught Beer & Cider: Marston's real ales

Public Transport: Railway Station: Shrewsbury

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

A wonderful unspoilt pub right in the heart of Shrewsbury - its interest lies in a series of four separate rooms so that it looks much as it would have done a hundred years ago. The white-painted three-storey building dates back to the C18 with a single storey extension of the late 19th or early 20th century which houses the lounge bar. It was purchased by Banks's (now Marston's) brewery in 1994 who has taken good care of it including spending some £1/4 million in 2008 (the pub closed for 8 months) to stop it leaning further! The left hand door leads to an uneven brick-floored passageway with a serving hatch on the right. To the left is the Gentlemen's Bar (now an outlawed feature of pub life!) formed by a timber partition with an iron stay attached to a ceiling beam and borrowed glazing along the top. The partition acts as bare high backed settle and the exterior wall is lined with reused C16 oak panelling with bench seating attached. This splendid small quarry tiled room retains an old 'Smoke Room' etched window and has a Victorian (EH) (looks 30s brick to me) inglenook-style fireplace across the corner with bracketed shelf above. There are some old (non-working) bell pushes still in place and a slate shove ha'penny table is always available for play.

The tiny front bar has a counter (date??) and an old mirrored bar back with a more modern lower section, although there were some changes in 2008 following the structural repairs but essential what was there was mainly put back. This homely room contains a plain timber dado, a small cast fireplace and two benches which are of no great age. At the rear left is the tiny snug / 'Poet's Room' with a red quarry tiled floor and brown painted plaster walls with wooden frames to give the effect of panelling. It has old padded bench seating all around the room, a small cast-iron fireplace (age?) and just two tables. The corridor runs around the back of the servery to the lounge bar which was last refurbished in the 1930s. It has a parquet floor, fixed seating on two sides with panelling above it (but no sign of bell pushes), a brick fireplace and service from a hatch to the side of the servery, all from the 1930s.