We visited an historic Shropshire countryside pub with a colourful past of bears, ghosts and smugglers

The Bear occupies a prominent position in the village, opposite the Norman church of St Luke’s, and Hodnet Hall Gardens, and has stood on the site since the 16th century.

Beneath the ground, its ancient tunnels and cellars hid rebellious monks from church officials, and provided tax-free smuggling routes for thrifty publicans, while its bear pit was revived in the 1970s when the publican, for a time, brought in two real grizzlies, Madge and Bib, who were later donated to Newquay Zoo. 

Another relic of a bygone age is the fabled ghost of Jasper Nielsen, who died nearby of hypothermia after a booze-fuelled tiff with the publican in the late 1500s and who is reported to have made his presence known to revellers on numerous occasions in the proceeding centuries.

It was given new life and a new look by Tom Heber-Percy, whose family own the land, and reopened in July 2021 under the management of Chloe Salmon, a Hodnet native who said she had returned to the village from Henley-on-Thames after seeing the potential of the pub.

She said: "I've been in the pub trade since I was a young girl and had worked for Brunning and Price for a long time, but got made redundant as a result of Covid, so my husband and I made the decision to move back up here as I'm fourth-generation Hodnet and this is home to me.

"That was in late 2020 and I took a job elsewhere because hospitality wasn't open, but my mum kept telling me that the Bear was open and when I heard it was Tom running it, that was a good start as I've known him and his family for a long time.

"I then walked through the front door and really felt it was a bit different, so I knew straight away that this was something exciting and different for Hodnet and north Shropshire."

Ms Salmon said anyone walking in would get a very warm welcome. She said her team were very good at putting people at ease and making them comfortable inside a pub which has a warm interior.

The Bear is split into three parts: a guest house with several rooms, a pub and a restaurant with an emphasis on fresh and home-cooked food, which she said was the owner's vision.

She said: "We have a lot of locals who drink here and that was Tom's vision as he knew that the business needed to operate in terms of pulling in a crowd from further away to stay in the bedrooms and eat here, but also keep it as a local pub that was a place for the villagers.

"We are a dry-led pub, but we also have a good amount of drinkers and, at times, you can't move in the bar and, as a freehold, we have a lot of freedom for our drinks, with two real ale pumps on. We have Salopian Chicane on tap at present, as well as a rolling list of other ales.

"We also have our house pilsner The Bear on tap and we serve a lot of premium-style beers and always have a craft beer on, so we do a lot of good trade around the ales, lagers and craft as well."

The kitchen team have received much acclaim for their skill and delivery of the culinary offering available at The Bear Inn and, within two years of launching, the inn has been rewarded with a place in the Michelin Guide and two rosettes from the AA.

Food offerings include high-end food such as venison Wellington, pork tenderloin, monkfish, ox cheek and quality steaks, as well as intriguing starters such as pigeon breast, brown crab gnocchi and cauliflower cheese croquettes, all sourced from local ingredients, including from Hodnet Hall, and with an emphasis on quality and being made on site.

Ms Salmon said the Bear, for her, was home and coming back to Hodnet to run the pub had been a good life decision.

She said: "I was brought up in this area and my parents courted here in the 1980s and my family have drunk here for many generations and, for me, this is not work as the Bear is my life.

"I get to see people that I've known and loved for many years and also introduce people here that have never been to the Bear before and show them what hospitality is and, for me, that's what the Bear is."