Come and see a Shropshire countryside pub with a tradition going back centuries and counts Dick Turpin as a visitor
Set in the middle of the Shropshire countryside is a pub with centuries of tradition, great food and drink and a warm and welcoming atmosphere and which claims to have welcomed a notorious highwayman through its doors.
When a pub is based in a community which can be seen as isolated or in a location far from a populated area, the task can become harder to attract customers in.
How these pubs stay viable and stay popular depends on what people can expect when they walk in, from the welcome they receive to the drinks on offer to the food being cooked in the kitchen and the history of the pub.
The Swan Inn in Aston Munslow is a pub which benefits from its look, being a Tuder-framed white building with parts of it built from an old ship, and is reputedly the oldest pub in Shropshire, having sat on the site since the 14th century and been visited by notorious highwayman Dick Turpin.
It sits on the main road which connects Craven Arms to Much Wenlock and surrounded on all sides by the Shropshire countryside, as well as being regarded as the best start and end point of the Corvedale Three Castles Walk, an 11.5 mile walk around the Corvedale.
Upon entering the Swan, customers will find two separate dining areas, a cosy bar, large beer garden and pool room, as well as a roaring fire.
Landlord Ben Banks has been running the pub with his mother Joanne for 13 years, having previously run a pub in nearby Boulden, and spoke about what had persuaded them to take on running the Swan.
He said: “I ran the Tally Ho in Boulden and an opportunity to run the Swan came up, so we came to have a look and we felt it had a great atmosphere, the beams looked great on the outside and it just had a really nice feel to it.
“We decided to give it a go and do it for ourselves, so we came and took out a lease on the pub to begin with, leasing it for five years and then we bought it.
“It took a little bit longer than we planned, but we finally bought it and we’ve owned it outright now for about three years.”
Mr Banks said he and his mother had always been in the pub trade and said that the Swan was the perfect place for them to run as the sort of pub they’d want to drink in, while also keeping the familiar aspects of it.
He said: “We’ve kept it quite traditional and although we’ve put our own stamp on it, we’ve tried to keep a feeling of being modern alongside a lot of the oldness.
“We have the nice Chesterfield chairs by the fire, so that people can come in after a walk and can have a drink while sitting by the fire.”
Being a freehold, Mr Banks said the pub had a lot more freedom in terms of what it could serve behind the bar and said the philosophy was to keep it local.
He said: “With the hand pulls, we have Ludlow Gold, Three Tuns from Bishops Castle and Butty Bach, so they’re all local ales and we keep those as regulars, then we swap around every now and again, with Oracle from Salopian currently on.
“A lot of the change comes from what the customers like and ask for, then we also have Robinsons Cider from Tenbury Wells, again supporting the local area, and Area 52 Lager from Ludlow Brewery on tap.
“We like to use local and support everyone as much as we can, such as getting all our wines from Tanners Wines in Shrewsbury and Ludlow Gin, as well as their whiskeys and vodkas.”
The food is the big selling point of the pub, with Mr Banks saying his mother’s cooking was what brought in the crowds.
He said: “Mum has always cooked and we’ve always been in catering, so we’ve done it for years and we do good pub food at reasonable prices.
“We have a great steak and ale pie and homemade beef lasagne, plus we have a specials board up each evening which changes every evening, and we use quite local, so we get our sausages from Wenlock Edge Farm shop.
“We also have a very popular Sunday lunch which gets very busy and is very traditional and which has people raving about the gravy and the Yorkshire puddings, then we have homemade desserts like crumbles and bread and butter puddings, so I think we do great and proper homecooked food.”
Mr Banks said the pub had become his home and his love and said it was the warm welcome that it gave people which made it for him.
He said: ”I love the building and everyone is really friendly, plus it has a brilliant atmosphere.
“There are so many people who come here and say that they can’t wait to come back, so it’s just a great pub with a really nice vibe to it.”
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