October 2023. Wem. Shropshire.
This set of reports from your daring trio of casketeers trip to North Shropshire nears its denouement, as we bravely cross the road from the Castle to the White Lion.
Two Joules pubs in an hour for Stafford Paul; we were spoiling him now.
Only just noticed those little bees on the window; what’s that all about ?
The White Lion might be a slightly less grand house than the Castle, but I may have been influenced by an early in-flux of Hi Vis bloke in forming that beer. It was certainly cosy, and notably warmer than our Stafford Joule, with roaring fire.
A similar beer range,
the Pale rich but perhaps not as cool as next door (NBSS 3+).
This was the point in the day for the overdue scratchings. Tonbridge Paul would have been bemoaning the lack of a “proper” lunch stop by now.
My only slight concern was the barrage of Scouse memorabilia.
But the soundtrack was the best of the day; “Wonderful World”, “Fire and Rain” and one that brought back memories for Paul, who remembers everything.
Though of course Paul’s memories of pubs are all meticulously written down, ahead of their donation to the Museum of Pubs grand opening in Wolverhampton.
Any plans I might have had to stick to halves and sneak in a Crewe tick on the way home had long been shelved, and it looks like a half of a Joules seasonal was squeezed in as we nervously waited to complete the Wem set,
15:57. Pub opens at 16:00. Train goes at 16:30.
Lead on, Will !
retiredmartin 
“one that brought back memories for Paul” was of Lichfield pub juke boxes just over fifty years ago.
It looks as if I had “meticulously written down” that I’ve used my bus pass at least nine times and my railcard at least ten times since early spring.
If only the new Joules could do their woodwork and their brickwork as nicely as some of their windows. Those bees remind me of six delightful little panes in Brighton’s King and Queen.
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This was the point where I decided to stick to halves, though with some regret as the Batch Beer 1017 (an experimental beer rather than seasonal would be my guess) was an interesting brew with three British hops: target, bramling cross and fuggles (NBSS 3.5, but if it had been my first of the day almost certainly 4 or even 4.5).
A pint would have gone down well, but I wanted to retain a semblance of sobriety so that I could stop you doing anything foolish when we changed trains at Crewe.
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“Foolish “ is very much a matter of opinion, Will
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