We visited a countryside pub that's been transformed from a former barbecue restaurant to a farmers' community hub

The west of Shropshire is full of small communities and plenty of farms kept by folk who work hard to keep the region and, indeed the country, fed.

While parts can seem remote, there are always places where residents and those passing through can meet up, talk about farming, have a cold drink and enjoy a hot meal in comfort.

One such place is the Gates at Ford, a pub which has given new life to the building it inhabits, which was previously a pub called the Cross Gates then, up until closure in 2022, an American-themed barbecue restaurant called Smoke Stop.

It reopened as the Gates at Ford, named for the village it is set near on the A458, in June 2024, after the lease was bought by Amy Brookes and her team.

Ms Brookes said she and her team had run a pub in Pontesbury previously and were looking to expand somewhere and found it was a pub with potential.

She said: "We just wanted to be able to expand to somewhere not far from Pontesbury and I think this building has always been a very nice one in a great location, having originally been part of a farm building.

"I'd come here a few times when it was Smoke Stop and I could just see the potential in it back then.

"When we decided to take it on, the landlord Paul did the majority of the work to restore it as it has been a really derelict state, then we worked to redecorate and make the place look very different to how it looked before."

Ms Brookes said that anyone visiting for the first time would see a pub with a countryside feeling, and while it had a lot of modern facilities to it, it still felt like a countryside pub and had a lot of passing trade.

She said: "I think what you would get is a sort of mixed charm as we've mixed the modern feeling with that countryside style and we've also got a lovely team here as well, who will make people coming in feel very welcome.

"We get a lot of passing trade from people who are heading towards the coast, coming from Birmingham and places like that, but we also get a lot of regulars from the local area and from Shrewsbury."

Ms Brookes said the Gates at Ford is a freehold pub, meaning that they could be a lot freer with the drink selection, while also being an affordable place to have a pint and food and having a good relationship with local producers.

She said: "We try to keep our beer prices relative so that we can have people in as I've found that some places are charging more than a fiver for a pint, but we pride ourselves on charging less, meaning we can keep the drinkers in as well as the diners.

"We have Three Tuns and Butty Bach from Wye Valley on hand pulls as we try to always support local businesses, such as Rowton Vineyard up the road, and we also support the farming community with things like Hawkstone Lager from Jeremy Clarkson's Farm, plus the cider from there is coming soon.

"We want to keep it farmer-led as the farmers do a lot for us and we back British farming, so we work with Henstone Distillery, who are near us, by buying spirits off them."

Ms Brookes also said that the pub was much dry-led as wet-led, with a good food menu full of hearty pub grub and British classics, and was very popular as a place for diners to come to.

She said it had been very satisfying to be able to save the building and revive it as a pub and said that it was very much her life.

She said: "The pub means everything to me, as it is work, but it's my home and my life as well and we all very much breathe this pub."