retiredmartin

July 2026. Whitchurch. Shropshire.

By law all blog posts must show where the subject of your writing is in relation to Wrexham.

Well, Whitchurch must be close, as I had Magic Dragon’s beers in three (3) pubs last Thursday. A fourth was Joules from Market Drayton, practically the next town down, and the nap hand completed with Burton on Trent’s finest. Or is that Carling ?

Two new Beer Guide ticks for me on a first venture into Salop since a 2023 Proper Day Out in Wem, and I’m intrigued to see if Whitchurch might appeal to Paul Mudge and the rest of the casketeers.

It will certainly appeal to fans of coloured timber.

You’ve got three GBG pubs, a Joules which I know Paul will love, and what would in the 1975 Beer Guide have been called “a workingmans pub“, with no elaboration.

Some of you will look at the Old Eagles and say “er, I’ll take the Bull’s Head“, while Simon and I will always pick the unimproved boozer, even if as in this case everyone appears to be twenty-eight rather than sixty-eight.

It looks like it should be keg, but the much maligned Marston’s (MMM) have protected the hand pump in most of their wet trade, and one bloke at the bar (everyone is at the bar) is nursing a Pedi.

“It’s two pounds twenty a pint on Mondays” the landlady tells me (it’s Thursday). “And three pints for a tenner after five” (it’s half one). Right now, it’s a fiver.

It’s a GOOD pint, robust and chewy, if a bit milky. Those are the sort of observations folk expect on Untappd, but instead I focus on the price.

The juke box is free today, though my hopes are putting on Anstasia Coope are dashed by the realisation there’s already an hour of Metallica lined up.

As I say, my sort of pub, like that Vine in Tutbury, which sounds like a Radio 4 show in the making.

“See ya later sweet” calls the landlady. Awww.