We visited a Bridgnorth pub which was given a new lease of life by its landlord and which has become a popular community venue
It's a town centre pub which was created after two pubs were merged together and which has become a vibrant and popular community pub.
The historic town of Bridgnorth is a place blessed with an array of good pubs, from proper, spit-and-sawdust pubs to venues with loud music and glitterballs to pubs which mix a good pint with a decent meal.
It has become a challenge for pubs in the town to remain viable and popular with punters, whether that's through the drink on offer, high end cuisine or a feeling of friendliness and warmth for anyone stepping into the pub.
Set on the corner of Whitburn Street and High Street in the High Town, the Crown is a pub which has become popular for all of the reasons named and which is run with love by the landlord and staff.
The Crown is a large Marston's Taverners pub with a large function room upstairs and has popular night club activities on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as a poker night on Wednesdays.
It is made up from two previous pubs which were joined together in 1967, which were the Crown Hotel, which fronted High Street, and and the Raven Hotel, which fronted Whitburn Street.
It was a pub first licensed in 1720, with timber framing from the part formerly known as the Raven dating back to 1646, rescued from the debris of the town following a three-week siege during the Civil War.
Under Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (now Marston's) ownership since 1960, the Crown is managed by Craig Queeney, who has been working at the pub for six years and has been landlord for two, having had a long past association with the Crown.
He said: "I've worked in pubs since I was 15, helping out then unofficially, then began working properly when I was 18 and, after moving to Birmingham, I worked in bars in the city centre.
"I came back to Bridgnorth as I was offered the job here as the manager and when the guy who was running it left, I took over as the landlord.
"I'm from Bridgnorth originally and my friends and I used to come in here all the time and we used to joke about running the place and, obviously, now I am."
Mr Queeney said he had wanted to put his own stamp on the Crown when he took over as landlord, saying it had looked a bit tired when he took it on, and so gave the pub a facelift with new paint and wallpaper, as well as rearranging the bar, as well as changing a function room he said was making no money into a games room.
He said all the changes had been about the visitor experience and making it a nice place to visit.
He said: "I wanted to try and make the pub my own, from changing a function room which was wasted space into a games room that's used a lot, and changing the staff uniforms.
"It was all about making it more welcoming because with the price of beer not being cheap these days, I think that if people are spending their hard earned money, it's nicer for them to have a nice space to come to.
"At weekends, we're always busy, particularly with sporting events, but we also have a lot of regulars who keep us going through the week and I think a lot of people, when they come in, will feel like they get a nice and warm welcome, good food and surprise at how big the pub actually is."
Mr Queeney said the pub was very much a mixture of dry and wet-led, with three hand-pulls available for ale drinkers to choose from the Marston's range, as well as lagers ranging from cheaper lagers like Carlsberg to more premium drinks like Birra Moretti and Cruzcampo and several ciders on tap.
It also carries a large number of spirits behind the bar, with gins being the most popular from the spirits, as well as whisky, vodka and rum.
The food menu is what Mr Queeney describes as "decent pub grub" and contains a real mixture of meals, from a grazing menu full of loaded fries and nachos to pub classics including chilli con carne, Hunter's Chicken, sausage and mash and fish and chips, as well as steaks and grills, burgers and a range of indulgent and gooey desserts.
It's a pub Mr Queeney said was close to his heart and which he was proud to be able to call his own.
He said: "It's somewhere that has always been close to my heart and I've got good memories of coming here with my friends and my family when I was younger and it's always been my go-to place whenever I came back here.
"I think it's kind of like my child and I'm proud to be able to run it and look after it."
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