Real Ale, Real Music

Another piece from the Midlands, this time featuring Shrewsbury where I stayed for a couple of nights the other week. I had been here a few times before, but with it having been a few years ago, I was curious as to what the pub scene was like these days.... Shrewsbury is one of my favourite towns in England. Not only does it have some cracking pubs, it has an incredible history and is also home to some stunning buildings, whilst its setting in and around a loop of the River Severn gives it, like Durham and its similar relationship with the River Wear, something of the feel of an island, a place apart that moves along in its own individual, time-honoured way. The local poet A.E. Houseman wrote of the town in his famous poem A Shropshire Lad: " High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam, Islanded in Severn stream, The bridges from the steepled crest, Cross the water east to west"   Shrewsbury certainly has a rich history, with Anglo-Saxon roots, whilst the Romans had a settlement close...

I was away last week, visiting one of my favourite parts of the country. And whilst there, I had a day out exploring a couple of attractive small towns and discovered a number of excellent pubs in both....     "Edrychwch arno. Dwed e. Didoli." * I was travelling on a Transport for Wales train between Shrewsbury and Leominster and yet another dual-language train announcement was playing over the tannoy. I'd become somewhat acclimatised to these having travelled down from Manchester to Shrewsbury the previous day, also on a TfW train. And so there would be a lilting gentleman's accent announcing in Welsh that this train was bound for  Caerdydd Canolog and would be calling at such stations as  Llwydlo and Y Fenny , which would be then be repeated in English by a voice that sounded very much like Nessa from Gavin & Stacey , and although I have been unable to confirm that this was definitely the case, I am sure my ears were hearing correctly! We were passing through ...

With a football-free Saturday and no time for a longer trip, I took the opportunity to re-visit a couple of nearby railway station bars along with a classic town centre pub.... The West Riding Refreshment Rooms at Dewsbury railway station are something of an institution. Since 1994 this Grade II-listed part ivy-clad former railway building has been delighting travellers and locals alike with its real ale, food, and welcoming atmosphere. It was opened by Mike Field, one of the original 'Gang of Four' behind the former West Riding Brewery, and who subsequently set up the Anglo Dutch Brewery based in Dewsbury with Dutchman Paul Klos in 2000. The West Riding aimed to restore the former station buffet bar to its former glory, with some of the inspiration coming from one of the country's few remaining examples based further down the trans-Pennine line at Stalybridge. The building was sympathetically restored, with real ale front and centre in the offering, and the place still re...