The Water Rat, Telford

A bit of a walk out of town, but at least the beer was good. Two pumps serving Hobson's Town Crier and Wainwright Gold. This is more a food led pub with a good sized dining room at the far end the building, plus another lounge/dining area on the left of the bar as you go in. The decor was cream painted woodwork and light green walls. One of the dining areas had a feature wall displaying different types of mirrors. No massive cooling towers to see as they have long been demolished.

Official site of The Water Rat - waterratironbridge.com

Official site of The Water Rat - waterratironbridge.com

This pub is very food led and has two rooms both of which are effectively dining rooms. It's got a very modern feel about it, although the building itself may be old, it's difficult to tell. There is an area of raised outside decking and across the car park there is a huge beer garden, which is where I sat last night. It backs on to the river and is overlooked by the 4 massive cooling towers of Ironbridge power station. It is quite spectacular to see these brooding giants completely surrounded by trees in the middle of the gorge itself. It's very peaceful down here, the only sounds I could hear were the river, a wood pigeon and some sheep in the distance. They have 3 handpumps, 2 were on selling Wye Valley Bitter and Holden's Golden Glow. I had a pint of the Wye Valley which was pretty good. It's not a traditional pub in any sense, but it is pretty good at what it does.