Blog: Raising a glass to Shrewsbury pubs past and present
The Rock and Fountain was our first port of call, although the 'F' had fallen off the sign outside, making it the 'Rock and Ountain', writes Phil Gillam.
My pub-loving chums and I were for once abandoning our usual haunts in Belle Vue and going on a wild adventure on the other side of the world (well, the other side of Shrewsbury at least) to explore the inns and taverns of Castlefields, the area in which I grew up.
This was the enchanted suburb where, as little boys, we had prayed to God and asked Him for super-powers, where we had played with our Matchbox cars, where I had catapulted my plastic Fireball XL5 into the sky and watched it crash back down to Planet Earth, its internal parachute having failed to open.
Fast-forward to the present day and now it is cosy pubs we come in search of, not a recreation field laid out by the Victorians and christened (curiously enough) 'The Pleasure' – a place for football and cricket, playing on the swings and launching space rockets.
The past and the present intermingle like lovers.
As I walked down past The Granada on Friday night, past the railway station, in the black of night and with the rain coming down, I again was overcome with how Shrewsbury is in my blood, in my heart, in my soul.
Every bit of this town seems to contain a wheelbarrow full of sweet memories for me. I love it more than chocolate.
And this evening was sure to bring forth many a happy echo from years gone by.
Sitting in the Rock and Fountain I struggled to recall its shape and layout from the last time I was in there, some 35 years ago. Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I've always had trouble with the idea of the passage of time, so even as I wrote that last sentence and the words '35 years ago' I had to take a sharp intake of breath and ask myself out loud: "Was it really 35 years ago?"
Anyway. The Rock these days seems a friendly and welcoming place, and the same can be said – it turns out – of all the pubs on our schedule last Friday.
The Britannia was next on our list. Again, I hadn't been in there for decades. We were delighted to find that it has a real fire in a real fireplace, making it very homely.
Pretty sure the last time I was in the Britannia I was with my dad and we watched the Italian football team on the telly thrash somebody or other about 7-0.
I would have been 18 or 19 which would have made my dad about 53 or 54. For better or ill (and I think for better), Dad was introducing me to the world of pubs and beer.
As we stepped back out into the rain I thought, for a second, we might even bump into dear old, long-gone Dad.
The Dog and Pheasant was up next. Now this place is packed with memories. My younger brother and I would very often be left sitting outside on the bench with a bottle of Vimto and a bag of crisps while Dad enjoyed his Sunday lunchtime pint.
The Dog and Pheasant is a brilliant little pub, right at the heart of the community, and in that sense very much the Castlefields equivalent to Belle Vue's Prince of Wales.
In an age when so many pubs are struggling to make a go of it, it was heartening to see that all these places were busy and seemingly thriving. This was certainly true of The Telegraph (the place that boasts the longest bar in Shropshire) and certainly true of our final Castlefields pub of the night, The Dolphin, recently revamped and re-opened with an impressive choice of real ales and a terrific atmosphere.
The only Castlefields pub we couldn't sample was the Canal Tavern, still sadly closed. Built in 1820 on the banks of (you guessed it) the canal, this imposing pub was a community hub for more than 150 years.
Again, I have fond memories of this place. When I was in my twenties it had a piano in the corner which was often used to entertain the punters. It's about time the Canal Tavern was brought back into service, and some members of our party on Friday night joked (or half-joked) about buying the place.
Meanwhile, the Rock and Fountain (1883), the Britannia (1856 and formerly known as the Engine and Tender), the Dog and Pheasant (1868), The Telegraph (1872), and The Dolphin (1820) are all really smashing pubs and deserve to be cherished.
Phil Gillams new novel of family life, Shrewsbury Station Just After Six, is now available from Waterstones, Pengwern Books and from amazon.co.uk, and also on Kindle
