Bridgnorth Trip 2009

It was Saturday 2^nd May 2009 what could easily be compared to a Mid-summer’s day. Once again, Keith Satterly had organised another day out. With a full bus, we set off from Leicester at 9.30 on time, heading for Bridgnorth.

We arrived at about 11.20, dropping people off at The Severn Valley Railway Station, for those wishing to ride on the 11.45 departure for Kidderminster. The rest of us were taken to the town centre and armed with maps, set off to check out some of the many pubs in the town. Many of us made for The Bell & Talbot, only to be disappointed that it doesn’t open at lunchtime except Sunday. We wandered up the road a few yards and spotted The Kings Head. This Good Beer Guide entry began to fill up with those aborting the Bell. On sale were 3 Hobsons beers. As there was a queue, some of our party went through to the yard to find The Stables Bar. Here there were 2 beers from The Bridgnorth Brewing Company, which was once brewed on the premises. Rumour has it that it may be being brewed elsewhere temporarily.  A quick visit to The Golden Lion saw Greene King on the bar, but 3 other local beers were also on. 

L-R Stables Bar, Railwaymans Arms, Crown, Oakengates, Alexandra, Oakengates.

Next was The Friars, hidden away down a back street, but well worth looking for. Here we found a couple of beers from Olde Swan and a couple of other local beers too. It was nice to see an old and dying pub tradition kept alive here, basic cobs for sale at reasonable prices, £1.10 each. One more before heading for the station takes us to The White Lion. This pub was quite busy, available were Oakham Inferno and Titanic Mild amongst others. There was a Mild Trail on in the area if you had the time to visit them all.

By now, it was time to gather for departure. We all ended up in what must be one of the best watering holes in Bridgnorth, The Railwaymans Arms. This pub is on the Severn Valley Railway Station. It’s walls are adorned with Railwayana and steam locomotive pictures, as you would expect. There were about 10 beers on here, I had to have a pint of Bathams Bitter, in a jug of course. At £2.28 a pint, what more could you ask for. We sat and waited for the 14.32 arrival as some of our party had chosen to take a ride to Kidderminster on the steam train. It was nice to see Duke Of Gloucester (71000) pulling in with a train. After this, we all boarded the bus for the next port of call. It was nice to see that most of the pubs we visited in Bridgnorth supported CAMRA’s LocAle scheme.

Our next stop was Madeley and The All Nations. This was a long standing Home Brew pub until closure in the early 1990’s. It is now run by Worfield Brewing Co and commenced brewing here in 2004. A range of their beers were available here with a couple of guest beers too. The hospitality here from Rose and her staff was really good, considering that a coach load of 55 folk in such a small pub took some serving.  Once again, prices here were a bargain with their own beers at £2.00 a pint.  Just up the road from here was Blists Hill Victorian Museum.  

A change of schedule next as we headed off to a pub in Ellerdine Heath, The Royal Oak, locally known as The Tiddly (don’t ask, none of us know) Prices in general here were good. They were selling a mild here based on Mc Mullens AK, Brewed by Salopian, called Barry’s Mild after Barry Malone, the former Licensee who had passed away earlier in the year. Barry had also been on CAMRA’s National Executive during the 1980’s. There were also beers from Hobsons and Wye Valley. 

From here it was off to our last port of call, three hours at Oakengates.

On arrival, we were dropped off behind The Crown. On walking around to the main street, one could be forgiven for thinking they had arrived in Brixton, with a large selection of fast food shops open and the rest of the shops with shutters down. Many of our party made for The Crown, with it’s striking yellow front, here was a Beer Festival with countless number of beers on. With plenty of time to spare here, some of us set off to investigate other places. One that was interesting was The Alexandra, just behind the Theatre. This was a quiet and relaxing typical local’s pub and by 8.00, quite a number of our party had wandered in here as they fancied a change from the busy atmosphere of The Crown. This pub was one of a handful that belonged to Black Country Ales and was selling 3 of their beers and 2 guest beers.  

Soon it was 8.30 and time to board the bus home. As always, we had an excellent day out. Many thanks go to Keith Satterly for organising a grand day out and Dennis our driver for a safe and pleasant journey.

K Williams

This page last updated: June 4, 2009

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