The Armoury, Shrewsbury

Part of the Brunning & Price chain,the exterior looks very corporate and seemingly modern in an old style,while the interior has lots of exposed brickwork,a wooden floor and much wood panelling on the walls.To the left is a large,dedicated dining area,while to the right there are traditional style square wooden tables ,well occupied on a Friday lunchtime crawl visit.The high tables nearest the bar seemed the best place for a quick sup. The eight handpumps were dispensing Three Tuns XXX,Enville Ginger,Lymestone Cherry Stone,Cotleigh Barn Owl,Woods Shrophshire Lad,Salopian Oracle,Brunning and Price (Phoenix) Original and Green Duck Plum Dumb (NBSS 2.5,a strange plum and vanilla MILD that didn't really work) That's a decent ale line up but this place lacks atmosphere and is very chain like,so maybe that limits it to a real ale crawl venue rather than an extended visit.

Update – September 2015 Still very much as described below following my previous visit in September 2009, a recent visit again found a good range of real ales from local breweries being offered – amongst them being Salopian, Woods, Ludlow, Longden Shropshire Brewery. Also on was Boggart Mud Brawler, a fine tasting porter. Beers sampled were in good form, prices ranging from £ 3.40p to £ 3.60p. There’s a few seats over the road by the river on the pavement, but nobody appeared to be servicing these tables, with some tables remaining uncleared of dirty glasses and plates throughout the duration of my visit This is a Brunning and Price food led establishment with, on my early Saturday evening visit, a diverse customer mix including several hen and stag parties and groups of diners all seemingly getting on well together despite their differing reasons for visiting. Worth a look in when in Shrewsbury. ORIGINAL REVIEW – SEPTEMBER 2009 Spacious gastro pub / restaurant situated by Victoria Quay on the riverside. The building is a former bakery and, at the entrance, we are told that the original building was built in 1807, relocated in 1920 and restored in 1995. Externally, it's a bit understated - there's only a small green sign which doesn't tell you what the premises now houses - and you could easily walk past without noticing there was a bar / restaurant inside. It's a large spacious room with a distinct drawing room feel to it, created by the high ceilings, period posters and pictures and some large bookshelves. It's bare boarded, but the exposed brickwork, period furniture and rugs help create what I thought was a rather stylish up market ambience. Food is clearly the dominant factor here, being quite a wide range of gastro pub food with a daily changing menu. In fact, it's basically a restaurant, but one where you order food at the bar. Perhaps surprisingly, a good range of real ales from local microbreweries is offered, approx 8-9 in total. Tasting notes are provided for the ales on offer. For example Wye Valley HPA was described as "a bit like brown sauce". My pint of Weetwood Cheshire Cat - at £ 2.40p, benefitting from a 50p happy hour discount - was an enjoyable tasty pint in fine condition. I don't normally like gastro pubs, nor pubs that are housed in buildings previously used for different purposes, but I have to say that I quite liked this one. Given that the range of beers seem wider than most, you might want to call in, but don't expect a normal pub experience.

A very big place. Descriptions elsewhere but there is now seating available over the roadway outside now. A decent selection on real ales.