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Beer of the Week (w/e 2nd August 2026) with ROBCamra
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Detail Pages
The Salopian Bar, Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
SY1 1PW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Strongers . left this review about The Salopian Bar
The Salopian Bar has a tiled floored L-shaped front bar with a dartboard and many televisions that were airing muted Sky Sports while background music played. Premium and mainstream craft keg options were available alongside Carling and five hand pumps that were drawing Ossett’s Barghest, Salopian’s Lost in Translation and Oracle, Wye Valley’s Butty Bach and Castle Rock’s Harvest Pale. The service was polite, but I wasn’t a fan of the Ossett so won’t be ordering that again. A door to the right of the counter leads to long benches on Astroturf in the inside-outside beer garden where there’s another bar to the left rear. Stairs towards the rear climb to the Loft pool room and to the right is a third bar in the tile floored cabin where there’s also a pool table and another flight of stairs up to the Loft. This is an interesting place, and I was certainly surprised when I saw what was in the rear, worth a look.
On 26th June 2026
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6782 recommendations about 6744 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about The Salopian Bar
Still a great place but has now been extended with a decent sized beer garden/outside area to the right.
26/6/17:
Usually the first pub I head for when in Shrewsbury. A short walk from the station this is a good pub. It has a L-shaped interior and bar and here you will find 8 handpumps. A good selection on local ales can usually be found. Mainly high tables and chairs can make it a bit uncomfortable but that's only a minor quibble. Newspapers are usually available to read.
On 12th June 2021
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Salopian Bar
Interesting place, a square roomed pub with a modern interior decor that seems to cater to all age groups and has a bit of a sports bar theme to it with its five (if I counted them correctly) flat screen teles dotted about the place.
The slightly unusual red and black interior colour scheme seems to work and despite all screens being on albeit muted they are somehow not intrusive to conversation and I found it a comfortable pub for a beer.
And that leads on to the Salopian Bar’s key selling point of it’s decent real are range that has won it several accolades from the local CAMRA branch over the years. As well as the regular house beers of Salopian Oracle and Oakham Citra, Stonehouse Brewery Station Bitter, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Buxton Brewery Myrcia, Salopian Treasure Trove and Sessionista and a very passable Oakham Darker Days Black Ale were on for our recent visit.
This was probably the best beer range I encountered on the recent Pubs Galore crawl of Shrewsbury and as the pub is a short distance from both the Shrewsbury bus and train stations this is a must visit when in town.
On 25th October 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2358 recommendations about 2203 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Salopian Bar
A rather unprepossessing pub on the busy main road by the river, with a slightly naff red-painted and plastic interior. However it is totally exonerated by the well-kept and changing range of beers on offer. Definitely a 'must-visit' in Shrewsbury, especially being strategically located close to the bus and railway stations.
On 21st October 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 4003 recommendations about 3935 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Salopian Bar
The first stop on our PuG crawl and I failed to get a drink as arriving late, our party was about to set off but it seemed fine.
The pub affords a nice view of the river with a busy road outside and is about a five-minute walk from the railway station.
On 20th October 2019
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2342 recommendations about 2283 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Salopian Bar
Last visited over ten years ago, but this remains a top-notch real ale pub. There was a lot of fuss at one time about this place looking too 'modern' or even 'trendy', but I think that few people would make the same comments nowadays. Thankfully, the diverse range available from the eight handpumps - including a fine Salopian Sessionista (£1.70, half) on this visit - and in bottle form remains. As before, would happily have stayed there for much longer.
On 20th October 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 9210 recommendations about 9210 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Salopian Bar
Basic pub on busy main road, saved by the road being right next to the river and the choice & quality of the beer. Well worth a visit if you are a beer drinker.
On 10th July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1616 recommendations about 1593 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Salopian Bar
A real ale mecca which has won many local CAMRA awards,it's a proper boozer where thankfully the 4 Sky Sports flatscreen were on mute on my Friday morning visit.The interior is quite small with a series of high tables near the bar,and normal tables to the side.The floor is tiled ,there is a jukebox while on the bar is a glass display cabinet with pork pies and rolls.There is a large selection of Belgian beers,and a few keg fonts but the star of the show is the 8 handpumps offering on my trip Oakham Citra,Hobsons Best,Tettnanger Deutsch Ale,Turning Point Lucid Dream,Brew York APA,Dark Star APA,Salopian Golden Thread and Oracle (in superb nick).There was a good mix of styles and strengths and my guess is that Salopian and Oakham will be regular ales,meaning 5 rotating guests.Happy hour 6-8pm Sunday -Thursday.
I expect it could get lively when matches are being screened,but for me this would be route 1 for real ale when in Shrewsbury.
On 25th June 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3211 recommendations about 3211 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Salopian Bar
First stop off in a 6 pub crawl around this fine town. Afraid this was the probably came 6th in the list.
OK - lots of real ale choices but the barmaids spend 10 minutes arguing with each other about the quality of my Stonehouse Station Bitter and then offered free tasters to the regulars to make sure it was OK after ignoring my request to change it for something that required less debate.
The beer was OK - but you know when your suspicions are aroused.
Some photos at my blog - http://mappiman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/270615-shrewsbury-pub-crawl.html
On 29th June 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1882 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Salopian Bar
This is a single room bar that primarily seems to be catering for younger drinkers. I wondered while I approached it if it was actually an original pub but apparently it is with a history of name changes.
There are eight hand pumps with an interesting selection, Oakham Citra and Bishops Farewell, Gipsy Hill Southpaw, Roosters Yankee, Salopian Vortex & Oracle, Maypole Platinum Blond and Stonehouse Station Bitter. I went for the Maypole Platinum Blond which was in excellent nick. It was £3.20 discounted to £3.10 with the CAMRA discount. They do a happy hour as well as the CAMRA discount and it was interesting to note that during happy hour with the CAMRA discount Black Dragon cider is priced at £2.78. This is what I would expect to pay for it in a Spoons, possibly even less so it shows that ordinary pubs can compete if they put their mind to it.
I liked this place despite being centuries older than their target audience. It is GBG 2015 listed.
On 18th June 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]