The Shifnal Shuffle

With a couple of nights booked in Shrewsbury I was looking at the train route from Birmingham New Street for a stopping-off point, somewhere I'd not been before where I could visit a few new pubs, grab lunch and get a decent pint.
Shifnal provided three Good Beer Guide entries, but it was the appearance in Paul Bailey's blog, reporting on a proper day out in the town which sealed the deal.
Just gone midday, I was hopping off the train at  eastern edge of Shropshire.

Wandering down the ramps and steps to escape the elevated train platforms, I made a right-hand turn out the station and reached the first GBG-listed pub in five minutes, complete with a wonderful pub sign and parked mobility scooter.

The Plough Inn (26 Broadway, Shifnal, TF11 8AZ)
This old 17th century building operated as a pub for years before closing and becoming D'arcy's eatery in 1996.  Against the odds in a town with a fair few drinking establishments close together, it was revived as a proper pub in 2011.

The cask choice on my visit consisted of the local ales: Hobsons or Noble Craft from Market Drayton; alongside Millstone from Greater Manchester and Hopback from Wiltshire. 

I picked the Noble 'Charge' - the one that was new to me and had the most impressive pump clip.  A fruity golden ale, made with US Summit and Ernest hops and proving to be a fine, flavoursome first pint of the day.
Although it took an age to pour, one of those beers where more seems to be heading to the drip tray than the glass, with the staff stating it's 'lively'.

The pub has two sections to the front divided by wooden beams that would have once been a wall, a back room and suntrap back garden.
Towards the rear, they're displaying their football allegiance...

Wolves do seem to be supported by an awful lot of publicans from Worcestershire to the Black Country to Staffs.  Seemingly more-so than any other team in the region.  I've never knowingly found myself in a 'Villa pub'. 
I avoided sitting under the signed shirts and grabbed a table in the window, a quiet pop soundtrack playing in the background ('Sweet But Psycho' by Ava Max, 'Born Again' by Lisa said Google; "Who?" said PropUptheBar).

Finishing my beer, I walked another five minutes up the road to my next planned destination.

The White Hart (High Street, Shifnal, TF11 8BH)
I'd known there was one Black Country Ales pub to visit in Shifnal, but this came as a bonus BCA tick (not that I ever seem to get any closer to visiting them all).  It had only opened a couple of weeks earlier, aroma of paint still in the air, fixtures and fittings in immaculate condition.
It's a sizable place open-plan place with various corners and nooks and crannies.
My picture shows the empty left-hand section, complete with BCA beer list on a screen, although the rest of pub had people scattered throughout and was doing a decent lunch time trade.

It was still new enough for locals to be popping in to see what they've done with the place, one lady poking her head around a corner and commenting that "my mam and dad used to sit on a table in this spot every day in the nineties."
There was the usual huge choice of ales, Moonraker, Purity, Salopian, Beowulf the Black Country Ales alternatives.
I resorted to picking beer based on pump clips again...

And swerved the planned trad cheese & onion cob when I saw they served lunchtime jacket potatoes for £6.50 with two fillings and something called 'salad' at the side of it.
A great pub with a wide range of punters, good quality beer and some much needed nourishment.

Next stop, back in the centre of town, the micro:

Kings Yard (2 Cheapside, Shifnal, TF11 8BN)
Nestled between chips and kebab emporiums, the Kings Yard opened in May 2021.  It veers away from the original Kent micro format with keg, spirits, bottle fridge, TV and comfy seats.
Real ale options were three from Wye Valley plus an Osset stout.

The foolhardy me would have had the Verdant 'Tippy IPA' on keg for £4 a third at 10%.  But sensible me dominated this afternoon and picked the Wye Valley 'Samurai' - a "cutting edge amber", which was fine but I would probably have enjoyed the West Midlands fave Butty Bach more.

The chap behind the bar staff was vocally cheery about Villa being knocked out of the Champions League.
"You're not a Villa fan, then?" asked the fella on the next table to me.
His follow-up question being, "'Baggies'? is that a nickname for Wolves?"
Always do your football homework.

I enjoyed the Kings Yard - a comfy and reasonably characterful micro which benefitted from a decent amount of pub tat, proper seating and retro charity collection box.

My next target was the older Black Country Ales establishment...

The Anvil (22 Aston Road, Shifnal, TF11 8DU)
This was another of the town's pubs that shut down in recent years and was headed towards conversion into residential use.  Black Country Ales arrived in 2018 after the Anvil had been shut for 18-months, gave it the usual yellow-hued makeover, modernised the WCs and the back patio and adorned the bar with a long row of pump clips.

Today, however, I think everyone had gone to check out the shiny new Wheatsheaf and abandoned the Anvil...

Apart from one chap who popped in, sunk a quick half and moved on, I had the place to myself, sat at the back of the room on comfy bench seating with a pint of Saltaire 'Mr Jinx'.
With it being so quiet I was worried about all the cobs stuffed into a cabinet at the side of the bar, so figured I should reduce it by one, lest they go to waste.

Second lunch: some good rings of red onion there, but the proper cob aficionado in me believes it should contain one enormous slab of cheddar instead of grated cheese.

More unfamiliar music which could only be identified by modern technology - Jelly Roll 'Save Me' - I was destined to not hear a single track I recognised in any of the Shifnal pubs playing music.

A quick check of train times suggested I could squeeze a half in one more pub, for which I picked the mustard-coloured Jaspers. 

Jasper's Arms (15 Victoria Road, Shifnal, TF11 8AF)
It's certainly a looker, inside and out, although the sun being in the wrong place means I haven't done justice to the stand-out colour and mural on the side.  Parked cars, scaffolding, people and the weather continue to scupper my pub photography.
Step through the door and there is an island bar, up-market leather seating, wooden floors and pump clip collection on the ceiling beams.

Greene King 'Abbot', Wye Valley 'HPA' and 'Butty Bach' on offer, but I had eyes only for the Holden's 'Golden Glow'.

A decent end to a couple of hours in this well-pubbed town.
I missed the Winking Frog (the one Martin paid extra attention to avoiding a typo on), the Crown and the Wheatsheaf, any of which may have been worthy of being added to my itinerary.
But there was a pint of Bass in Shrewsbury with my name on it.

Edmonton Green, you'll always live on in my dream

The previous post found me wandering the streets of Marylebone and visiting four pubs with wildlife-themed names - Eagles, Jackolopes, Stags, and Horses (do horses count as wildlife?)
My plan for the rest of the day was to travel into the northern suburbs.  But before descending into the tube at Euston, I wanted to poke my head into a recent addition to the Wetherspoon portfolio - the Captain Flinders having first opened the doors to the public in January 2024.

Captain Flinders (34-38 Eversholt Street, London, NW1 1DA)
The pub is named after explorer Captain Matthew Flinders who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia in 1801-03.  The link to Euston is that his grave ended up lost under the expansion of the railway station until being uncovered during the recent redevelopment works.  So, we may never get a fast train direct into Euston station on HS2, but at least our extortionately expensive rail project means Captain Flinders gets a more respectful burial place and a Wetherspoon's named after him.

I'm a big fan of the tiling at the entrance..

But I wasn't so keen on the central London Spoons prices.  
Strangely enough, my Portobello 'Market Porter' was less than the advertised rate, which I'm not complaining about.

By Spoon's standards, this is a pretty small place.  It's a single room, divided into three by the chunky wood panelled pillars that stretch the length of the pub.  It was certainly busy on my visit - blokes sitting doing the crossword; the rowdy lads by the front looking like they were on the start of a big afternoon out; and - unsurprisingly - lots of folk with luggage at their side.
I sat next to some very cultured art work and enjoyed my fine London porter.

 

From Euston, I made an eight mile trip northeast.  Firstly on the underground to Tottenham Hale, continuing on the overground to Edmonton.  This part of the capital is home to some 615,000 folk, yet I've never had cause to visit before and know nothing about it.

The northern part of is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, the southern part as Upper Edmonton - which is surely the wrong way around?! 
Chas and Dave released a 1983 song called Edmonton Green, from which I really hoped to score a better blog post title.

Here's my walking route...crikey 2-miles - it's healthy this pub crawling lark.

The route took me past the initial scruffiness of the shops by the railway bridge on Church Street, then past the splendid green tiled frontage of the Old Hammam and Spa,

Onto the long suburban streets of semi-detached houses.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the station (timing includes crossing the traffic lights twice after departing from the station in the wrong direction towards the shopping centre) I reached the Rising Sun.
With some magnificent old Taylor Walker lights...

The Rising Sun (243 Winchester Road, Lower Edmonton, N9 9EF)
The doorway takes you through to a porch with a conundrum of turning left or right, the pub being divided into two sections by a wooden partition.  I went right into the livelier half with pool table and locals sat at the bar singing along to Catatonia's 'Road Rage'.
Somewhere, hidden by the bar blockers, were hand pumps for Old Speckled Hen, Hophead, and something from Buckinghamshire brewery Vale.
I had the Vale.  I never did see the pump clip so I'm not sure what it was.
This one...

It turned out the other half of the pub was a comfier option, allowing me to settle on a cushioned bench at the far end.
The Rising Sun is a splendid pub - just the right amount of clutter to make it interesting, a well-worn carpet, and beamed ceiling.  Despite being quiet when I sat down and took the picture it quickly filled up whilst I was there, doing a good trade with prams, dogs, and locals livening things up.

Making my way to the next Good Beer Guide pub in Edmonton, I crossed the busy A10, strolled through Bury Lodge wetlands, then followed a footpath along Salmons Brook.  It all sounds much nicer than it really was - not a classic urban walk.  But the route took me to the  Beehive with its Madri umbrellas and grey-painted frontage.

The Beehive (24 Little Bury Street, Lower Edmonton, N9 9JZ)
This was much quieter than the Rising Sun.  Alongside me, there was just one table of folk, plus a couple of dog walkers who arrived to take their regular spots at the bar.
There was a Rev James or Greene King IPA on offer for the traditionalists.  Plus three unusual beers from home counties micros.  A Brentwood 'Falcon Punch IPA' for me - another super beer from a brewery that rarely lets me down.

I've filled the blog with a variety of pictures from the gents, usually featuring mild smut.
Plus the occasional photo of a beer barrel urinal or some ambitiously scented handwash.
But this is a first...there's an iguana in the gents!

Initially I felt very sorry for Blue (for that is her name), destined to sit and watch blokes in the toilet.  But the sign tells us that this is just a hide out which she has access to from a vivarium outside.  I still utilised the urinal furthest away, out of respect.

Leaving the Beehive, it was a straightforward early evening saunter through the streets to Winchmore Hill.  No disrespect to the Rising Sun and Beehive, but it was the next micropub, shortlisted for the CAMRA Pub of the Year award, that had brought me this part of London.

Little Green Dragon (928 Green Lanes, Winchmore Hill, N21 2AD)
In a show of dedication to the micro pub cause, Little Green Dragon owner Richard made a charity cycle ride around 100 micros before opening his own in August 2017.
Which is probably a good bit research on how to do it right - the Little Green Dragon was crowned Greater London Pub of the Year in 2018 and has won that title 5 more times since then.

The drinks choice offered four cask ales (pale, red, dark), key kegs, cider and perry, Old Bakery gin, and prosecco.  Something to suit all tastes.   

My taste was for a Hammerton 'Piece of Cake'.
Fudge cake stout..mmmm!

The pub has a range of typical micro high tables with a home-made look, plus regular tables, sofas, beer barrels acting as stools...

I sunk into the sofa and made myself comfortable enough to decide to stick around for a half of the Bluestone 'Red of Heaven'.
Next to the bar is something a little bit different to perch on, with some repurposed bus seating.  You;ll find an electronic display board above this table which shows the next departures from the local bus stops.
Which was handy, as I had no idea how to get home from here.

I ambled down the road in the dusk.
Contemplating visiting the one-time Wetherspoons, but instead found my way to a cracking looking pub in the side streets...

The Orange Tree (18 Highfield Road, Winchmore Hill, N21 3HA)
This used to be a regular Beer Guide entry, but has dropped out since 2022.  I suspect a real ale choice of Greene King IPA and 'Yardbird' weren't going to be attractive to the local CAMRA folk (two more handpumps turned around this evening, so perhaps the range is sometimes more enticing).
BUT - the Yardbird tasted great.  And I never thought I'd be praising a Greene King Yardbird.

A nice pub: large, full of character, a fair few customers around the corner.  Lots of interesting decorations, such as the run of Toby jugs above the bar.
Just a pity it was too dark for me to manage any decent pictures.

To be honest, I was more focused on how I was going to get home than on getting good pics for the blog.  It was a fairly long bus ride down Green Lanes, then onto the tube to Victoria, before I even started contemplating getting back to Oxford.  Via a doze on the Oxford Tube, I suspect. 

Driffield, Beverley, and Hull

A trip on the train from Hull to the market towns of Driffield and Beverley, leaving ourselves just enough time at the end of the day to get lost in a Hull housing estate looking for a way across the A62 for one last pint.

We hopped aboard the Hull>Bridlington train and made the 30-minute trip to Driffield, home to just over 13,000 people in the middle of the Wolds.

Our destination was the Butchers Dog, midway up the main street.

The Butchers Dog (57 Market Place, Driffield, YO25 6AW)
This is a pub that upset the usual PropUptheBar scheme of things.  At just gone midday I'm used to finding pubs and bars bereft of customers, making staff jump by appearing at the bar much earlier than they expected to see anyone.
Not so the Butchers Dog, bustling with cheery punters at an early hour, whilst a chap with a guitar set up in the corner to provide afternoon entertainment, and three dogs took it in turn to provide trip hazards.

This pub has been the Butchers Dog since 2021, having had several other identities prior to that.
And I thought it was great.  A mixed crowd of punters, mostly all on the cask, with a fine selection of six beers to chose from including Great Newsome, Wantsum, Bosun's and the Butchers Dog home brews.
A top-notch Wantsum 'Black Pig' Baltic porter was my pick.
And the pub also provided an addition to the ongoing mild smut in the gents WC collection...

By my count there are another 8 pubs in Driffield so I feel a pang of guilt that we didn't explore further.  But we had a fair few pubs to visit in Beverley, 15-minutes away by train on the line back to Hull.  

Beverley was wet.  And busy.
I was here at Easter when I called in to the Dog & Duck, White Horse, and Atom, which I mention by way of explaining why I excluded these this time around.
Our first port of call faced the market square and looked as though it would be a good option for lunch.

Green Dragon (51 Saturday Market, Beverley, HU17 8AA)
And lots of other folk in Beverley had had the same idea.  We just managed to grab the last available table, whilst other groups wandered the length of the pub forlornly and proclaimed they'd 'just have to go back to Wetherspoon's'.  We found ourselves sat in the middle of the front room, prime position for the fire place and TV above it showing darts from Ally Pally.
Darts is one of those sports that I rarely pay attention to, but put me in front of TV with it on and I'm hopelessly hooked.

The Green Dragon is an historic coaching inn, although most historic touches seem to have been wiped out over the years during the creation of a tourist-friendly dining pub.
A traditional selection of cask ales adorned the bar: Tetley, Black Sheep, 'Landlord', and 'Wainwright'.  I don't think the Tetley Cask makes it any further south than Coventry, so that's what I picked - easy to drink and doing the job of washing down lunch.

With the rain having stopped outside and the darts finished, we strolled down to the visit the Minster, then called into the nearby Monks Walk Inn.

Monks Walk Inn (19 Highgate, Beverley, HU17 0DN)
This was our most historic pub of the day - a 13th century merchants warehouse, becoming a pub known as the George in the 17th century and once having their own brewery attached.

The main doorway takes you into a passageway which runs through to another street to the rear.  Left off the passage is a pool room, right is a choice of two doors leading to rooms either side of a central bar.
I hadn't expected the Monks Walk to be open this early in the day, let alone packed to the rafters.

Ossett 'Butterley', Sharp's 'Atlantic', Half Moon 'Lunar' and Jolly Boys 'Jolly Collier Porter', were the cask choices along the bar, once you'd squeezed your way through to get there.
We managed to fit on the end of the table of a card-playing family where I enjoyed the quality Jolly Boy porter.  I may have enjoyed it more if I had a cosy perch in the corner, but felt rather in the way where we were sat and was ready to move on after a swift half.

The Chequers Micropub (15 Swaby's Yard, Beverley, HU17 9BZ)
Situated in a a quiet square off the pedestrian walkway, the Chequers opened in 2013.
Without enough floor space to stand and loiter at the bar it's table service (still sending 2020 shivers  down my spine) although it's well done by a friendly attentive member of staff looking after a handful of tables on two levels.
I did get the chance to peruse the pump clips close-up and make a fine selection of the 7% IPA, 'Modern Love' by North Riding Brewery. 
Just as well, because the beer menu on the table was confusing at first glance...

A super list with lots of good beers lined up.
Foolishly, I ordered a second beer, having spotted the Azvex 'Stocking Filler Nostalgia' on the keg list.  You don't win any awards for common sense picking 12% Imperial Stouts in the middle of the afternoon, but - WOW! - it was absolutely superb.

A great place.  And they'd put up the Hook Norton signage to ensure we didn't feel homesick for Oxfordshire.

Moving on, in a remarkably straight line considering the ABVs of the last two beers, we headed through the darkening streets of Beverley to my final GBG 24 tick in the town.

Royal Standard Inn (30 North Bar Within, Beverley, HU17 8DL)
This was a traditional town boozer just to the north of the market square, with a small front bar and more spacious lounge area to the rear.  We settled on cushioned bench seating in the front room which is where all the rest of the custom was at the time.
A no-nonsense cask selection - Black Sheep, Wainwright or Doom Bar.
The Black Sheep 'Best Bitter' was...hmmm..okay.  Perhaps I'd been spoilt by the fine ales in the Chequers.

Everyone from that front bar left whilst we were there - I don't think it was anything I did or said.  So a promising pub visit that turned out to be a little bit dull by the time we returned glasses and said goodbye to the landlord.

There was an unwise stop at Atom on the way back to the station for an imperial stout and festive themed loaded fries - neither of which I really needed.
Then a short train ride back to Hull where we set off eastbound from the station.

My sense of direction to get to the Alexandra Hotel was perfect - if only we hadn't been scuppered by the un-crossable four-lane A62 where we needed to find a bridge or underpass.  Several alleyways through the housing estate and we found a way to the southern side of the main road, the pub looking gloriously welcoming... 

Alexandra Hotel (69 Hessel Road, Hull, HU3 2AB)
The Alexandra was built for the Hull Brewery Company in 1895 by local architects Smith, Broderick & Lowther.  It's a striking Victorian building with some ornate brickwork, the old Bass pub sign swinging in the wind, and a mosaic floor in the entryway sporting the name of the hotel.

A big curving bar offered four handpumps with Thornbridge 'Jaipur', Front Row 'Pause' porter, Great Newsome 'Frothingham Best', and Linfit 'Nelson Sauvin' available on our visit.

There's a tall decorated ceiling, extending the feeling of spaciousness within the pub.  We settled on comfy fixed seating along the wall beyond the pool table, entertained by one of the locals doing a stunning job of knocking out a medley of contemporary tunes on the piano.
The Linfit pale ale went down a treat and I was most content to end the evening in this incredible pub.

The Alexander Hotel has limited opening of Thur-Sun 4pm-11pm, so isn't the easiest place to tie into a visit to Hull.  But, if you get the chance, do make the trek down Hessel Road to visit it - you won't be disappointed.

That brought this trip to Hull to close.  It's only since I got home that I realised we really needed twice as long there to visit all the great looking pubs which I missed.  Oh well, it's always nice to have something to look forward to next time.