Star rating: **** The galvanised sand buckets at the door reinforced the no-smoking message as we entered The Shakespeare at Bridgnorth.

It’s an old-established town drinkers’ pub that has served value-for-money meals for decades. It had now undergone a significant makeover with substantial alterations and redecoration with, it appears, considerable approval/success.

We were visiting on a Wednesday evening and the pub was buzzing. Raucous drinkers were propping up the bar and groups and couples were enjoying their meals.

Two large glasses of red wine (£5 for the two) were obtained to start proceedings and we settled in a corner on two upholstered oak pews – they really were church pews, dating from 1887, which were rescued from the nearby St Mary’s Church decades ago and pressed into service at The Shakespeare.

The laminated menu covered just about every category of eating out. There were at least a dozen sections including: lite bites, sandwiches, jacket potatoes, burgers, vegetarian meals, salads and children’s menu.

That’s without mentioning the Sunday lunches or the pensioners’ daily specials at £3.70 or the Skittle Alley menu (something which I have in the past really enjoyed – both the skittles and the food).

There was not an exhaustive choice in any particular category but overall there would definitely be something to meet all requirements; and I didn’t get round to checking the options on the chalkboard.

But it is the prices which really are eye-catching. All starters are under £4, half roast chicken with chips or potatoes and veg at £5.95 and the mixed grill at £6.95 are a couple of examples. It’s been quite some time since I was in a pub serving meals at those prices.

Choices are ordered at the bar and I began with crispy goujons of plaice (the most ‘expensive’ at only £3.75) and Libby chose the time-honoured prawn cocktail (£3.75). I was only half-way through telling my wife about my day at work when our plates arrived. I had eight large, hot goujons with a really crisp salad and happily munched the lot.

Libby’s helping of prawns was more than generous, the garnish was fresh and the slices of buttered brown bread was all devoured with a little help from me.

It was all adding up to ideal pub dining – good food, little fuss and not stupidly high-priced.

Our plates were cleared away and the waitress asked if we wished to enjoy some time to relax or should she go ahead and prepare our main courses. Fine, we were happy to move on to the next course and soon my steak arrived.

It was on a big plate (always a good sign in my book) with the obligatory onion rings, grilled mushrooms and tomato. With a price tag of only £6.95 for an eight ounce sirloin steak with all the trimmings I harboured a faint suspicion that there might be a catch, but no. It was tender, tasty and trouble-free.

Pub grub that I might not die for, but it was the quality and quantity that I would certainly drive for. It was accompanied by a couple of generous glasses of tasty red wine for £5 – my sort of price bracket again.

If you enjoy dining out but don’t want to treat every event as really special with a whopping great bill at the end, then this is just the place to go.

Vegetarians have a choice of four meals – quite a lot for most places. Libby fancied the broccoli and cream cheese bake (£5.95) and received a large, attractive-looking, well-presented offering. It was highly flavoured with a crisp topping and the helping was definitely on the generous side, particularly as it came with chips. It was all eaten except the rather runny sauce which defied being scooped up with a fork.

We shouldn’t really have gone on to the puds but, at these prices, what the heck. Again a wide choice including apple pie, sherry trifle, chocolate fudge cake and caramel cheesecake and also priced at just £2.50 – the most reasonably priced I have come across outside the Liverpool night shelter. It was the cheesecake which got my vote while Libby recommends the apple pie.

It’s a Banks’s pub, with guest beer of the month being Brightside, described as a light, hoppy brew.

ADDRESS
The Shakespeare, West Castle Street, Bridgnorth
Telephone: 01746 762403

MENU SAMPLE
Starters
Home-made soup of the day (£2.75); garlic mushrooms (£3.50).

Main courses
8oz horseshoe of gammon with grilled tomato and pineapple (£6.95); home-made steak and kidney pie with puff pastry lid (£5.95).

side orders
Garlic bread (£1.25).

Desserts
Caramel cheesecake (£2.50); chocolate fudge cake (£2.50).

ATMOSPHERE
A busy pub, largely open plan with a relaxed atmosphere

SERVICE
Quick and efficient.

DISABLED FACILITIES
Old established pub with slight changes of levels and narrow corridors. No facilities specifically for the disabled.

By Rex M Key