The Castle Hotel, Bishops Castle

Not my first visit to this charming hotel, but when I was here before I hadn't caught the pub reviewing bug, never mind the heritage interiors bug. This one presses all my buttons, with four cask beers from local breweries the cherry on the icing on the cake. I went for three halves of the beers that were not Salopian Oracle, as I know that one doesn't agree with me. My Clun Pale was smooth and delicious, but lacked a distinctive finish. Three Tuns Solstice was in better condition and very tasty, while the same brewery's Best was somewhere in between for condition and had a subtle bitterness on the swallow. Three good beers but not world beaters by any means. Definitely worth another visit before too long, though

The Castle Hotel sits above the main road through the town of Bishop's Castle and it has a reasonable size car park. The interior is certainly a bit more upmarket than the town's other pubs. I sat in the middle of three rooms. There was a mixture of drinkers, diners and hotel guests across all 3 rooms. Real fires made it feel cosy. Salopian Oracle is a regular ale. Guests were Three Tuns Solstice & Clun Pale Ale. I ordered the latter, referring to it as "Cloon", when the correct pronunciation rhymes with "done"! It was only after that I realised that I may have missed a real cider. The waitress who served me announced that they did indeed have Long Mynd Cider. But when I subsequently tried to order it from the other waitress, I was told they hadn't had it for a while. So, I made my excuses and departed at this point. Not a bad start to 4 pubs in the town though.