Admiral Benbow, Shrewsbury

Open plan L shaped interior not as expected from the outside with its nice etched windows, a make over in the 80s or 90s has modernised it but not too badly. Four pulls on each face of the counter although on one face the clips are doubled or trebled up, giving a choice of 8 or 9 ales and a couple of ciders. Décor is middle of the road with carpeting, benches, stools and sewing machine tables, but lots of candle power . Silent as a grave when I dropped in apart from the 80s/90s music which won’t please everyone. At least the beer was fine, the pub being a long time GBG entry.

This good real ale pub dates from around 1800 and is now a privately owned free house, it is named after the heroic Royal Navy officer John Benbow who was born in Shrewsbury and considered by many to be the 17th century equivalent of Admiral Nelson. The interior has two small rooms, a public bar at the front with an L shaped brick bar counter on the left opposite the entrance, a tiled fire place in the left hand wall, several paintings of Royal Navy ships on the walls and two large flat screen TVs which were not on during my visit. At the back of this room is a door which leads to an L shaped corridor where the second room can be found on the left, this is a cosy lounge area with a serving hatch from the main bar and a dart board on the back wall. Also at the back of the public bar is a door which leads out to a small patio with a couple of picnic style tables and lots of flowers. Regular ales are the house beer, Benbow IPA, Ludlow Gold and Six Bells Cloud Nine with five changing guest beers usually from Shropshire and the neighbouring counties, Its also worth mentioning that there were three Ciders and a Perry on hand pull (GBG 2010). Forgot to ask who made the house beer but it was very good regardless, all beers seemed well kept in my opinion. A great traditional pub for good beer, the landlord runs a tight ship (sorry, couldn’t resist) and does not allow groups of lads aged under 30, although common sense is used when younger people are accompanied by mature adults. I got a bit of a 70’s/80’s vibe from the interior which is a shame as this Georgian building must have been internally renovated at some point. Definitely a place to include on a pub crawl if you enjoy real ale, I shall return.

This place has a great reputation for real ale and its easy to see why , 8 on during my visit , 6 Bells Old Castle Dark and Cloud 9 ,Shires Dabley Gold ,Ludlow Gold, Wye Valley HPA , Salopian Hop Twister ,Shropshire Brewery Stout and the pubs own Benbow IPA along with a choice of 6 ciders theres plenty to go at , i had a Ludlow Gold and very good it was . Where the pub falls down is the atmosphere , a lot of the locals seem content to keep themselves to themselves and there is hardly any banter , its not quite a Slaughtered Lamb but you do get some strange looks if your not known , overall well worth a visit just for the beer , just dont expect a jovial atmosphere