Only one left in Salop for the GBG year, and another cracker.
No better place to finish anywhere than in Shrewsbury, of course, even without enough room in my belly for half a dozen or more marvellous pubs I should have done.
I caught the town on the first sunny day of Spring. And it looked marvellous, exemplified by Old and New St Chad’s.
But the Severn appeared to be dangerously close to flooding my pub in Coleden, south of the Severn.
Thankfully the Cross Foxes was unscathed. How had I not known of this gem before. Particularly when Pub Curmudgeon did.
Like the Tynemouth Lodge, it’s a simple unspoilt one bar locals pub, Long row of bench seating, darts board, horse racing from Wincanton, 4pm drinkers. You could be in Derby. Or heaven.
Five points for guessing which beer I chose (clue: the other two were Three Tuns and Worthington).
The Bass lasted about eight minutes, which is quite restrained for me when it comes to Draught Bass. Not the coolest Bass of all time, but chewy and tasty, an easy NBSS 3.5. Welcome to the Beer Guide, may your stay be long.
I was so excited I nearly went in the Ladies. “LEFT !” the regulars shouted.
Not a lot else to be said, not a lot needs saying, it’s a Proper Pub where you drink good beer and all are welcome. Oh, they were playing Nik Kershaw. Wouldn’t it be good if all pubs were like this (sorry).
Sample banter:
“Did you see that Liverpool do Man City last night ?” (AAAGH)
“Yeah”
“Haven’t seen Scousers so excited about one leg since McCartney met ‘eather Mills”
“xxxx”
And oh, the lacings !
retiredmartin 
Is the boy Thurman aware of this gem? Looks tremendous and a great Nik Kershaw pub 😀👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, it’s on Ian’s list (mainly as it’s GBG, I think). Not my first Nik pub, do you encounter him much or is it mainly Howard Jones round your way ?
LikeLike
Howard’s always welcome although I’ve had a bit of a run of squeeze recently
LikeLiked by 1 person
I assure it’s in the list as it’s Cool for Bass
LikeLiked by 1 person
As easy as pulling mussels from the shell 😉 seamless
LikeLiked by 1 person
A joke from up the (spaghetti) junction.
LikeLike
Very good 👏👏👏
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seemed like a perfect pub. It was some fantastic place according to Mudgie.
LikeLike
I chuckle when I recall a reply I posted, way back when I first started reading your blog, asking you what you thought of Bass as a beer. I may as well have been asking Bugs Bunny if he likes carrots!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Did I say it’s rubbish, not what it was, made in Wolves ?
Actually, I never liked Bass that much traditionally; it’s only been in the last 5 years I’ve had a succession of great Bass in GBG pubs like the Coopers/Black Lion/Sun etc that I’ve finally been converted.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for posting this reply, in all seriousness. I’d have thought you were a life-long Bass devotee. All the more interesting, really, that you’ve just come to it relatively recently. And all very contingent on how it’s kept, I gather. Have you had poorly-kept Bass in some places, that’s hugely disappointing?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve had average pints of Bass (including in the Unicorn, Manchester) regularly, but it’s just not a beer I come across much. The places that do stock it have a commitment to it, which helps.
LikeLike
The BIG news is that interweb thingy has arrived at Shrewsbury: his (it will be a him) Heather Mills joke only recycled previously on Twitter around 100,000 times. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Twitter ? In Shrewsbury. When did it breach Telford ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The Bass lasted about eight minutes”
The whole barrel?
LikeLiked by 2 people
It was only a firkin.
LikeLike
“Shrews”
Finally! Proper map names (none of the Pany y Girdle stuff). 😉
“A Bass shrine”
Did you faint when you saw that? 🙂
“You could be in Derby.”
High praise!
“Wot ? No Worthy !”
For a second there, I thought that was a typo from the Bill and Ted movie (not worthy!) LOL
“I was so excited I nearly went in the Ladies.”
I’m guessing you didn’t actually enter the Ladies and then almost went in there. 😉
But yes, a bloody proper pub to be sure. (thumbs up)
Cheers
PS – “How had I not know of this gem before.”
‘Known’ if we’re talking before. 🙂
LikeLike
“How had I not know of this gem before.”
Presumably as it’s never been in the Beer Guide before.
But I have to say I’ve been going to Shrewsbury for forty years, and had never been in it until 2014. Great pub – everything you want from an old-style boozer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought you might have known of it before 2014. Interesting there’s still a fair number of unspoilt gems that aren’t widely known. Duncan only just made it to the Luppitt, I went to Cowden Pound last year etc etc.
LikeLike
It’s not really an unspoilt gem – it’s the kind of pub that wouldn’t have been particularly remarkable back in 1988. And the Wem, Banks’s and Border pubs would have been of more interest to the itinerant pubgoer than the M&B ones, apart from the Loggerheads.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When you live in the Fens a lot more pubs look like unspoilt gems (certainly in terms of character) than they might do if you live in Stockport !
LikeLike
I went in the Cross Foxes with my wife on the 29th May 1987 when it was an M&B tied house with a great drink of M&B mild on, i have also got a good photo of it taken when we did it.
We did 40 pubs in Shrewsbury over two days.
I have never chased GBG pubs just done all that we see.
We would have gone for the Three Tuns XXX.
I really dont get most of these music things keep appearing on yours and Life after footballs blogs Martin and i do really like listening to music and would take it over a TV any day.
LikeLike
Beautiful
LikeLike
What a great pub and some fine photos of the environs as always martin – great job..
Of course if that pub was in the New Forest it would have been converted to a dining pub by now…:(
“Five points for guessing which beer I chose (clue: the other two were Three Tuns and Worthington).”
err – was it Doom beer???…;)
“I was so excited I nearly went in the Ladies. “LEFT !” the regulars shouted.”
You should have known that Martin – from the instructions provided on my ‘Smalls in the Wash’ post (https://pubhermit.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/small-wash/ ) …
…the ladies are always right…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes !
And agree about conversion to dining pubs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great re read! Banter sounds as good as when I went! Well written and really captures the pub perfectly…
Also great to read an Alan comment and note he did FORTY pubs in two days.
Legendary
LikeLiked by 1 person
Only 40 ? Slacking !
LikeLike