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The White Lion, Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
WV16 4AB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Al Bundy left this review about The White Lion
Excellent pub. A small 2 roomed pub with beer garden to the rear. 7 handpulls for real ale with beers from Ossett, Three Tuns, Wily Fox, Wye Valley, Castle Rock and Titanic on today. Definitely worth a visit.
On 19th August 2023
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Delboy 20 left this review about The White Lion
Just like Will below, we were well into our crawl by the time we reached here! I have vague memories of trying a Golden Wander and Shropshire Pale ale. I know they were good but that's about it. I shall call again towards the start of the day!
On 23rd August 2021
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1656 recommendations about 1556 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The White Lion
This was my seventh pub of a crawl of Bridgnorth, so my notes, where they exist at all, are patchy at best. Two things stand out from my notes about this pub, though: "Beer in superb condition" and "A real locals pub". This is the tap of the Hop & Stagger brewery, based a few miles outside Bridgnorth, and I had a half of their excellent Beckbury Best; there were four more of their beers on, and two guests (see photos).
Date of visit: 19th October 2019
On 2nd December 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3746 recommendations about 3483 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The White Lion
The White Lion is a decent enough looking pub that is on the nice looking West Castle Street.
Once inside there is a single irregular shaped room which runs to the rear,the floor is part carpeted and tiled,the seating is bench seating and normal tables and chairs.
The pub has ties to the Hop & Stagger brewery,so we had to give one of their beers a try,i had a drink of Hop & Stagger Shropshire Pale Ale,which was a very nice drink,the other Hop & Stagger beers on were Freyja, Golden Wander and Bridgenorth Porter,the guest beers were Thornebridge Wild Swan,Wye Valley HPA and one other i failed to note.
There was a bar billiards table to the rear and cobs on the bar,Pies and a pint for £5 were also on offer.
We really liked this pub.
Note: The Hop & Stagger brewery as relocated to the North of Bridgenorth.
Pub visited 29/4/2017
On 2nd July 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The White Lion
This traditional pub with its own microbrewery ticked all the boxes for me. They had seven ales on handpump, out of which four were their own, brewed out the back. I went for a pint of Hop and Stagger Golden Wander which was superb, along with a hot steak pie for a fiver.
I also got a fresh cob on the bar to eat later. Their other speciality was the home made scotch eggs.
Unfortunately, we read the bus times wrong back to Wolverhampton, so had to revisit here and found Ludlow Blonde had come on handpump, so that was a bonus.
The entertainment was also good late afternoon, when Mrs Ale had put her handbag on a coat hook on the bar, with the long handle hanging down. I got up and caught my foot in this and flew across the lounge to land near a table full of drinks and luckily enough, never spilt one. Every woman in the room loved to see a bloke making a prat of themselves and the laughter lasted for quite some time.
On 15th May 2016
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The White Lion
Like most Bridgnorth pubs this is another old one with distinct areas as described below. It was busy on my Saturday lunchtime visit so I sat in the patio by the Hop & Stagger brewery.
I only counted six hand pumps with the Hop & Stagger Golden Wander doubled up then their Simpson's Best & IPA, Titanic Iceberg and Redwillow Wreckless. I went for the IPA (£2.80) which was excellent and cheap. This was definitely the best of the five pubs visited in Bridgnorth.
On 26th January 2016
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The White Lion
Excellent, slightly old-fashioned (in a good way) town pub. Traditional furniture and decor in the compact front bar and slightly larger rear bar. Side patio area and small beer garden beyond. Seven handpumps, including two each from Hop & Stagger (of which this is the brewery tap), Ludlow and Bewdley plus a cider. Couldn't decide what to go for, so opted for a tasting platter of three 1/3rds (£3.20). Good vale cobs, scotch eggs and pies. Lots of events advertised. Plenty of good-natured banter amongst the locals, but visitors made to feel very welcome by the friendly staff and well worth seeking out.
On 23rd March 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The White Lion
In the centre of the historic market town of Bridgnorth is The White Lion, a pub which, according to a sandwich board a bit further down the road is “home to Bridgnorth’s only working microbrewery.
Outside the pub, a board on the wall tells us that the pub dates from the 1640’s and is classical late Georgian in design. There’s the inevitable tale about a White Lady ghost – apparently a benign spirit.
Inside, a small staple shaped bar counter decorated with hops serves a number of adjoining, but different, areas. An area just inside the door on the left has a dartboard, several circular tables and stools and a rather odd looking painted mural on the wall depicting an old SVR train railway carriage bound for Llandudno. The area on the right is comfortable and carpeted and traditionally furnished and features a tree decorated with fairy lights, the branches of which have started to lean over, having reached the height of the low ceiling. A further area, round the far side of the bar has beer mats on the black beams and several comfortable seating booths.
In summary, it’s largely a rather unremarkable reasonably traditional interior except for the addition of a few quirky modern touches.
Outside, passing through what was evidently the former coaching inn entrance is a lawned garden which incorporates a separate play area with equipment for kiddies. In a smokers shelter, leaning rather forlornly against the wall, is the old pub sign, indicating that The White Lion was formerly a Banks pub. On the wall of the pub, we see a large rather artistic wall mural depicting the green countryside and fields full of sheep.
It’s a pub that seems to be trying to cover most angles which, from my experience, generally means that there are times when such a pub is best avoided. For instance, we see advertised a Pirate Night and Rum Tasting Evening and we learn that, if we are judged to be the best dressed pirate, we can win some grog. Continuing the theme, should we wish to participate in this event, we must cough up 20 doubloons ( pounds ?).
The pub is now the home of the Hop and Stagger Brewery, whose strapline, according to their beermmats is “Staggeringly Good Beer”. A small leaflet on the bar counter tells us that their first brew was born on 21 April 2012 – coming up for 6 months ago.
On my recent mid-September lunchtime visit, Hop and Stagger’s Golden Wander was on plus Ludlow Gold, Pardoes Original, Wye Valley Butty Bach and Salopian Lemon Dream. In response to the friendly landlady asking me what I thought of the Golden Wander, I told her I thought it was rather unremarkable, to which, somewhat surprisingly, she implicitly agreed. She did say that, if I were around at the weekend ( which I wouldn’t be ), I should pop in and try the Ruby, which is apparently, a more popular stronger beer. Several posters dotted around the place advertise the pubs past Winter beer festivals. The pub has been in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for a number of years now – these precede the birth on the on site microbrewery obviously.
On the other side of the coaching inn entrance is the Hop and Stagger bottled ale and farm cider shop where we can stock up on takewaways should we so wish.
My experience of Bridgnorth pubs is unfortunately limited to this one plus the splendid Railwayman’s Arms in the Low Town. Walking around the town, I saw quite a few pubs that seemed, externally at least, worth a look, - and Bridgnorth has as many as 7 pubs in the 2012 GBG - but, nevertheless, I think I’d want to do this one again next time I’m in Bridgnorth
On 5th October 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Andy Ven left this review about The White Lion
July 2012: I felt more settled here on my latest visit, possibly because it had the fab Pardoe's Old Swan Original on and it was very wet outside. Branches with fairy lights stretching across the ceiling gave it a winter feel. I could have stayed for another had it not been for the fact that I had over-indulged earlier in the day. Still worth a visit in a town where you are spoilt for choice.
August 2010: Traditional and tidy place but decent service. Fairly compact lounge at the rear.
Cask ales: Oakham JHB, Titanic Mild, Banks's Bitter, Black Rat 6%, Ludlow Gold and Tribute.
It's not spectacular but OK here. I'd pop in if I was passing. GBG 2010 entry
On 7th July 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 244 recommendations about 240 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The White Lion
A two roomed inn off the bottom of the High St, with a small comfortable lounge at the front with upholstered settles, carpeted and a bar counter holding four handpumps and a Carling fount. The bar at the back looks more popular with the locals and has another three handpumps plus more kegs. I counted six real ales and the other pub was probably a cider. There is also a drinking yard outside. Décor is fairly bland in magnolia and brown however look out for some murals in the front bar one showing what appear to be some of the regulars in railway carriages. There is also a splendid twig display complete with fairy lights and horse brasses ;-). Screens, machines and darts for entertainment if the conversation flags.
On 25th June 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]