Leominster and Leintwardine

The plan for Day 2 of our trip to Ludlow was to catch the train into Herefordshire and visit the town of Leominster.
First things first: a quite wonderful breakfast at CSONS down by the River Teme.  Following by a browse of local traders day at Ludlow market where we weighed out bags down with cake, locally roasted coffee beans, and SY9 rhubarb and tomato ketchup.

Before Leominster: a side-trip to the village of Leintwardine.

A Herefordshire village 10-miles from Ludlow, home to around 850 people, 2 churches and 2 pubs.
This was the one that we were interested in...

Always trust a weather-worn faded pub sign...and a blue plaque...

So, what's a parlour pub?
A change in the licensing laws in 1830 allowed private householders to sell ale and cider from their own homes as well as being able to brew beer, just so long as they didn't open on a Sunday or offer fortified wines or spirits.  So started the practice of beer houses, where drinks would be served from a jug in the parlour.  By 1838 beer houses outnumbered traditional inns and hotels with some 46,000 throughout the land.  
In 1869 the rules were changed again, making it harder to get a licence and preventing new beer houses from opening.  Over the following years many closed, whilst others transformed into regular pubs applying for full licenses.

Sun Inn (Rosemary Lane, Leintwardine, SY7 0LP)
Remaining examples of parlour pubs are few and far between, so what a treat to step into the Sun Inn and the parlour that Flossie ruled over for 74 years...

To the other side of the entrance corridor is the bare bones red-brick-floored public bar...

This could have been lost forever when Flossie passed away in 2009.  CAMRA launched a "Save the Sun" campaign and a neighbour and local brewer brought the pub from the family, whose desire was for it to continue as a pub.
The original rooms remain intact although all the action is through the back in an extension which contains the bar, additional seating and access to the garden.
Beers available on our visit came from Ludlow Brewery, Hobsons and Wye Valley.

Much as I liked the front rooms, it made sense to take my Hobson's 'Best Bitter' (and a pickled egg) to the toasty seats by the wood burner, in the extension where a handful of locals sat around the edges with pints of beer and newspapers.

One remarkable pub ticked off, it was time to head back into Ludlow and catch a train to our second destination of the day.
The Transport for Wales service whisked us to Llanllieni in 10-minutes, Welsh announcements first - not that the English pronunciation is especially helpful being as it has three extraneous letters on paper.

Leominster
This north Herefordshire market town is 9-miles south of Ludlow and is home to around 12,000 folks.  As is often the case, it doesn't look especially appealing stepping out from the station, but a short walk took us to the centre where we could OD on timber-frames and listed buildings (in excess of 150 of them).
We made our way to the market square where a quick check the time on the impressive clock  (pictured at the top of the post) confirmed it 14:30 - beer o'clock.
Our first port of call was to the Press Room in the corner of the square...

The Press Room (1 Corn Square, Leominster, HR6 8LR)
Many years back this building housed a pub called the Duke's Head.  That is long gone, later uses being as a printing business and as the tourist information centre.  So it's great to see it returning to selling beer, albeit alongside coffee and cakes.

The bar counter has been constructed by a local carpenter to include an unusual window to show the workings of the beer engine...

Rather like the Blood Bay in Ludlow, parts of the bar are salvaged from closed pubs - the bar back has come from Penarth and the beer engines from Nottingham.

On our visit they were serving Hobson's 'Town Crier' or Hop Shed 'Java Pale' from the hop farm brewery in Worcestershire.  This was formerly just called 'Pale' and has been given a rebranding that make me think 'coffee'.  Brewed with three varieties of British hops, it's a floral hoppy and fruity brew.

I left Mrs PropUptheBar and the dog sipping an Erdinger Alkoholfrei isotonic beer, whilst I took the opportunity to pop into Wetherspoon's a couple of doors down.
The darkening sky is indicative that the weather was about to take a turn...

The Duke's Head (Corn Square, Leominster, HR6 8LR)
And indeed it did - hail-stones briefly pummelling the skylight extension to the rear of the Duke's Head which the bar counter sits under.
The pub looks fairly traditional and small from the frontage on the square, and would be were it not for the conversion to extend it into two additional areas at the back.

Quick bit of Spoons carpet appreciation...

The onward to see what cask ales were on offer: Ludlow 'Gold', Moorhouse 'Pendle Witches Brew', and Pheasantry 'Dancing Dragonfly' sharing space on the hand pumps with the Spoons regular fare.
£2.20 for the guest Pheasantry from East Notts, a fruity and boozy 5% golden ale.

Moving on, we strolled up Drapers Lane and quickly found our next destination.
Changeable weather on this day which has gone from a downpour to deep blue skies...

Grape Vaults (2-4 Broad Street, Leominster, HR6 8BS)
This was a cracking pub.
Am I pushing my luck if I claim that all pubs with 'Vaults' in the name are brilliant?
The Grape Vaults is a 19th century inn that has never been spoilt by any flashy refurbishment, retaining many historic features within a simple interior.  No music or games machines to distract from the chatter of a group of folks spread across the small tables in front of the bar, the sunshine beaming through the windows.

Beers came from Ludlow Brewery: Best, Gold or Blonde.
The Best was on superb form, a fittingly good pint for the delightful surroundings.

Moving on - slightly reluctantly - from the Grape Vaults, we strolled along the lane to the Priory Church of St Peter and St Paul, busily bell-ringing on a midweek teatime.  Then through the greenery of The Grange park with the old market hall as its focal point - a building dismantled to open up a junction in the town centre in 1850, then rebuilt near the church in 1859.

Back out on Eltham Street we made our way to the 2026 Good Beer Guide listed Chequers - another Grade-II-listed good-looking old timber framed building.

The Chequers (63 Etnam Street, Leominster, HR6 8AE)
This is considered to be the oldest pub in town, dating back to at least the 1600's when it was operating as a coaching inn with stables to the rear.  It was first recorded as being 'The Chequers' in 1843.  The front room is the most characterful bit of the pub with wooden beams and a spectacular fireplace.

Those would be the best seats in the house on a winter's eve with logs burning on the hearth.

This is a Wye Valley house, with the biggest range of their beers I can recall seeing in one place: six in total - Stout, Pyoneer, Butty Bach, Hopfather, HPA, and a seasonal mild.
I'm never one to turn down a mild, picking 'The Malt Awakens' with its Star Wars themed name and pump clip.  Another cracking pint.
The music didn't live up to the beer - Lukas Graham, Bon Iver, then Niall Horan making for a bit of a bland-fest.

But I'm not complaining...it's a super pub which began filling up with customers whilst we were sat in the front window alcove.
Four varied drinking establishments visited in Leominster, decent beer in all, the Grapes Vaults standing out as the town highlight.
We briefly thought about calling into the White Lion close to the railway station, but then figured we could do much better hopping on the next train back to Ludlow.  And so we did, with Black Country Ales and a much more modern parlour pub.

The Blood Bay - Ludlow

A short break during some of the chillier days of May 2026 took us to the western edges of Shropshire and the historic town of Ludlow.
Our base for three nights was the Wheatsheaf Inn, five minutes walk from the town centre, sitting just outside the old town walls.

The Wheatsheaf Inn (Lower Broad Street, Ludlow, SY8 1PQ)
As befits historic pubs outside the town walls, they once had a reputation for a much rougher and rowdier crowd than those on the other side of the gate.  In the 17th century the landlord is recorded as being fined for “harbouring...lewd and evil disposed persons, rogues, beggars and such like."
Maybe in this day and age they'll be more willing to accommodate a scruffy bugger like me, although this being Ludlow, I wouldn't bank on it.

After dropping our bags off, we decided a pint in the Wheatsheaf could wait until later, wanting to make the most of the blue sky and pay a visit to the castle.

Construction of Ludlow castle began around 1085 with numerous additions being made over the next two centuries.
Historic residents include Edward and Richard, ill-fated sons of Edward IV, who were whisked away from here to become the 'princes in the tower', never to be seen again.
Catherine of Aragon honeymooned at Ludlow Castle.  A miserly five pounds was spent sprucing it up in readiness for Mary Tudor's year-and-a-half overseeing the Council of the Marches.
Author Daniel Dafoe popped his head in when it was falling into disrepair.  US forces played baseball in the castle grounds when stationed here in the second world war.

In this day and age you can spend £10 to wander around the ruins and imagine what life used to be like within these fortified walls.
Or you can come and see Snow Patrol and Rick Astley as part of the summer gigs lined up for 2026.

I thought the castle was great - especially the superb views afforded by the stone staircases to the tallest remaining tower.
Back through the market place, the town was looking good in the sunshine.

Joules would provide our first beer in Ludlow at a pub tucked into a courtyard just off the market square - down the alleyway to the left of the picture above.
A turn through an archway gives you the first glimpse of the timbered buildings...

Rose & Crown (8 Church Street, Ludlow, SY8 1AP)
This is possibly Ludlow's oldest pub, even though you'd probably take a punt on one of the timber framed inns taking that title.
Joules claim that historical records show that an ale house existed here in 1102.  Parts of the current listed building date back to the 13th and 15th centuries.
Joules, from Shropshire town Market Drayton, took over in 2016 and unearthed old features such as fireplaces and wooden beams, returning an historic feel to this old coaching inn.

It consists a U-shaped layout, with rooms surrounding the small courtyard: dark wood panelling to the left where you'll find the bar counter, stone floors and fireplaces to the right.

Of the cask ales on offer, three were Joules regulars ('Slumbering Monk', 'Pale', and 'Citra') and two were limited edition/seasonal brews ('Bilby's Trail' or '1038 American Pale').  That's a line-up very heavy on pale ale and crying out for a mild or stout.
Looking for something I'd not tried before, I opted for the light and crispy 4% 'Bilby's Trail', easy-drinking and in good condition.

 

Moving on, we wandered through town, taking the opportunity to photograph the Feathers Hotel in the sunshine.

Looks incredible.  Reportedly very ordinary inside, and we never did build up the motivation to step inside and see for ourselves.
Instead we patronised another good-looker, the Old Bull Ring Tavern.

Old Bull Ring Tavern (44 Bull Ring, Ludlow, SY8 1AB)
This was quiet, possibly due to the odd food service times (the A-board advertised food from 12-5, which struck me as shutting the kitchen just as folk start to think about tea).  It has spent about four months closed in 2025, reopening in December, so I guess they may still be testing the waters.
Heading through to the right side room with bar counter we found Wye Valley 'HPA' and 'Butty Bach' on offer, as well as Devon interloper Otter 'Bitter'.

I grabbed a pint of the 'HPA', taken through to the quiet and brightly lit second room.
A bit too brightly lit for me.  For a pub dating back to the 14th century, complete with ghost stories, and named after a grisly 'spectacle' that would have taken place on the market square, I'd kind of like rickety floorboards, dark corners and flaking paint.  But that's just me.

The Bull Ring couldn't feed us at 6pm, so we headed for a cafe/bar on the market square for a bite to eat.  The Old Bakehouse was a relaxed and pleasant place that provided us with tasty plates of food and a bottled 'Butty Bach' in the absence of anything exciting on the beer taps.

Our next pub stop was the undisputed highlight of the evening...

The Blood Bay (13 High Street, Ludlow, SY8 1BS)
Although it's not actually the historic hostelry that it appears to be at first glance.  
The building previously housed a newsagents and was brought by a local entrepreneur named Jon Saxon, who had a plan to convert it into a pub.  When they began a 9-month renovation project, Georgian and Victorian features were uncovered and the idea emerged to recreate how the ground floor would have looked in the 1820's.  The oldest layers of paint and wallpaper were scanned to recreate these and decorate in the original style.  The bar counter and beer engines were salvaged from a pub demolition in Islington.

The front room is tiny, with a handful of small tables in front of wall-hugging bench seating and dumpy stools.  A mahogany divider behind the bar splits the ground floor into two, with a couple more tables on the route to the back.  But we found the best seat in the house...

A great wooden benched booth with small serving hatch to the back of the bar, lest you declare it too far to walk around to the front.

Beers being served on our visit were Uley 'Taverner' from Gloucestershire and Teignmouth Brewery '1846' Irish cream stout from Devon.

The Dark Ruby Mild and Bass were "coming soon".
"Won't be long," said the friendly chap at the bar.  "The Bass will go on as soon as the Taverner's finished.  Taverner's just as good, mind."
Well, not quite, in my humble opinion, but it was in great condition and a really enjoyable premium bitter. 

I stuck around long enough to try the second beer - the 6.2% stout being absolutely superb.  And long enough to climb the stairs to a very respectable WC and a characterful first floor room, devoid of customers...

We ended our evening back at the Wheatsheaf, with another Wye Valley 'HPA', sat under the fairy light-lit wooden beams.

More Ludlow pubs to follow, as we spent the next couple of days exploring nearby towns and villages and the evenings seeing what else the town itself had to offer.  Expect parlour pubs, a brewery tap, hills, and more Wye Valley beer.
And a return visit to the Blood Bay when that Bass come on?  Yes, I expect so.

Bass in Burton on a Wednesday Lunchtime

 

Safe to say that 11am on a Wednesday is not the best time to rock up in Burton-Upon-Trent on a pubs and beer mission.
The micropubs were waiting for late afternoon to unbolt their doors.
Forget about the brewery taps which are Thursday to Sunday affairs.
Even the classic run of the Coopers, Devonshire Arms and the Roebuck can't be tackled until gone 4pm.
But this is the Capital of Brewing, so surely I could still do well between the hours of 11 and 3?

As it was early doors and I needed some breakfast, I headed straight to Wetherspoon's. You're never very far from brewing links in Burton, this being named after Michael Arthur Bass, brewer and first Lord Burton.

The Lord Burton (154 High Street, Burton upon Trent, DE14 1JE )
Absolutely no surprises within the Burton branch, where only the historic pictures of the town adorning the walls remind you where in the world of JD Wetherspoon you are.
The open-plan room stretches a fair way back from the street, bar at the midway point, all the expected carpeting, furnishing and table clutter present and correct.

With added chaos at the bar.
Quite how the customers before me caused so much of a headache I don't know.  But it involved being served by two people, having to repeat their drinks order and forgetting who wanted what second time around.  One of the two staff fetched a boxed cider from the store room and I painfully watched whilst not being able to help as they struggling to lift it onto a high shelf in the fridge.  All whilst the plates to be delivered to tables increased and the number of folks waiting at the bar grew and grew.

Oh well, plenty of time to pick and then change my mind several times as to which ale I'd have...

I ended up spending my £1.99 on the ever-reliable Rudgate 'Ruby Mild'.
Taken to a table by the front windows where the gang on the nearby table discussed ailments, MOTs and Magaluf.
My plate of breakfast fodder provided me with the energy to make the fairly long walk to the other side of the River Thames and a pub with a promising "Best Bass" sign painted on the front and side.

The Elms (6 Stapenhill Road, Stapenhill, Burton upon Trent, DE15 9AE)
This was a bit of a gem.
It was built as private housing in the late 19th century, then converted into a parlour pub - where little would be changed from the original layout and the homely living quarters would be opened to drinkers.  (A proper parlour pub in Shropshire to follow in a post or two).
The front rooms are the most characterful places to sit: a lounge with colourful cushioned bench seating and a superb fireplace to one side; the more basic wooden benches in the bar to the left of the front door.

On the bar was Bass, Thornbridge 'Wild Swan' and Full Circle 'Equal Measure'.
I was in Burton in a pub renowned for one of the best pints of Bass in town, so poor old Thornbridge and Full Circle never got a look in.

It was very good.  The pub became busier with local customers, one and all taking the time to say hello to the odd-bod in the conrer taking pictures of his pint of Bass.

I backtracked the way I'd come in order to return to the centre - walking across the traffic-heavy Trent Bridge, then taking the footpaths through the meadows, with wooden walkways across the wet bits.

Time for a quick bit of brewing heritage, with a snap of the Worthington offices.
The red brick buildings date back to 1755 and served as the administrative centre of Worthington's brewery from 1863.  Given more time, I would have followed one of the town's brewing trails, but my schedule demanded I drink the beer rather than look at old buildings connected to it.

Retired Martin had recommended the Constitutional Club for the best pint of Bass in town.  "Just tell them you're a fan of Bass and they'll sign you in," he said.
I do confess I walked past the unwelcoming door with it's buzzer entry system twice before plucking up the courage.  This was more unnerving than Maidenhead Conservative Club.

 

Burton Constitutional Club (150 High Street, Burton upon Trent, DE14 1JE)
I don't know what I was worried about.  The welcome was super friendly, my query if I could come in for a pint of Bass without being a member met with a "course you can, my love".

A bit of history... This was built to house the post office in 1874.  When the post office moved to New Street in 1905 the building was only empty for 2 days before Lord Burton and the Ratcliff's from the Bass brewing empire purchased it with a plan to create a gentleman's club.  It was redeveloped over the next five years, with an oak panelled ground floor reading room, games room on the first floor with snooker and card tables, bowling green out back.
These days, the upper floors are used by a dance studio with the snooker tables in pride of place on the ground floor.

I'd love to have potted a few balls, but wasn't pushing my luck.
The Bass was on great form, a smooth pint with thick silky head, enjoyed in superb surroundings. 

Moving on, I wanted to visit the current Beer Guide listed Black Country Ales Burton outpost.

The Dog (5 Lichfield Street, Burton upon Trent, DE14 3QZ)
Located on Lichfield Street, just past the market place, The Dog stands out with it's creamy paintjob and timbered frontage.  A surprising lack of parked cars directly in front, although the Biffa wheelie bin is doing no favours to the aesthetics.
In previous incarnations, this was a Worthington tied house, an O'Neil's in the 90s, and an Enterprise inn until 2015, at which point Black Country Ales added it to their chain.
It's got a fair bit of character - quality ceiling, even better bar frontage, good carpet, wallpaper that will be familiar to anyone who's been in a BCA pub-or-two.

On the bar, alongside their own regular brews, were cask ales from Magpie, Facer's, Felinfoel, Lenton Lane, and Mallinsons.  My pick was the novelty Chocolate Orange stout by Facer's - it's not what I'd pick now, but it seemed a good idea at the time.

I took this to a comfy seat in the corner with a cheese & onion cob (of course!).  A fellow customer on the next table tried to conduct a phone call and hum along to 'Video Killed the Radio Star' at the same time.  It didn't work and obviously confused the person at the other end.

I needed to leave Burton at a sensible hour, so could only squeeze in one more pub.
I figured I'd make it the supposed oldest in town.

Olde Royal Oak (11 Market Place, Burton upon Trent, DE14 1HA)
On the market square, the upper timbered part looks a bit more authentic than that of The Dog.  Part of the building dates back over 300-years, once connected to the abbey by a tunnel, and once used as a lockup for ne'er-do-wells.
It's been owned by various breweries over the years, but seems to have struggled amongst the stiff pub competition in Burton, despite a cracking location.

I stepped in as the rain began to fall.
Lots of handpumps on the bar.
But not a lot of choice...

"One's plenty," as someone once said.  Especially when it's just the beer I'd hoped for anyway.
It wasn't up to the high standards of the Elms or Constitution Club, but was absolutely fine and kept me happy.
The Olde Royal Oak is a bit of an odd'un.  Lots of space, big stage area, complete mismatch of furniture set up in an unusual way - like the lovely old wooden bench I sat on, but couldn't lean back on due to a ledge poking out over the top of it.
Music came from Rose Royce, The Beach Boys, Simply Red (uh-oh), and Toploader (that's it, drink up!)
I started the post with a picture of a pint of Bass, so I'll finish on one too...