Ludlow Best

Actually, the best of Ludlow was two posts back, but as I haven't included the brewery tap or Black Country Ales pub, I figured I could squeeze in one more Shropshire blog post.

If only as an excuse for a little bit more timber-framed glory...

And one of the more unusual places to find Union Berlin stickering...

Normally we would have made a beeline for the brewery not long after arriving in town.  But Mrs PropUptheBar diligently checked opening times before letting me make a wasted journey after 6pm on a Wednesday evening.

Ludlow Brewing Co. (Station Drive, Ludlow, SY8 2PQ)
Ludlow Brewing Company was founded by Gary and Alison Walters in 2006, a 10-barrel plant set up in an old maltings on Corve Street.  Prior to this, you had to go back in history to 1933 for the last commercial beer production in the town when the Ludlow & Craven Arms Brewery was still in existence.  Fair to say the 21st century operation has done rather well. increasing in size and moving into the old rail transit depot in 2011, which enabled them to incorporate a taproom.
A good-sized space, the shiny brewing equipment stands proud in the rear left corner, with a bar to the right.

We'd had no difficulty sourcing the Ludlow beers during our short break - they'd been readily available in all towns and villages we'd visited.  But you get the full cask range in the brewery: 'Best', 'Blonde', 'Gold', 'Black Knight', 'Stairway' and 'Red Dawn'.
I picked the 'Black Knight' - a hybrid stout/porter apparently, not that I really know the difference between stouts and porters anyway.  

 

A lovely dark beer, served in the great condition you'd hope for with the brewing kit a few meters from the hand pump.
There were also a couple of keg beers available from craft offshoot Derailed ('Jam Dunk IPA' or 'Nebula' on this occasion).  Of the two, I only tried the 'Nebula' pale ale, rushing it a bit as they were calling last orders on Friday evening.

Leaving the brewery, we headed through the small industrial estate leading to the lower end of Corve Street.  A 10-minute walk from the centre, this quiet residential area is where you'll find Ludlow's Black Country Ales pub (number 36 of the current 55 on my tick-list).  

The Unicorn (66 Corve Street, Ludlow, SY8 1DU)
A bit more black & white timber frame frontage on a pub that dates back to the early seventeenth century.
The entrance is via a coaching inn style passageway to the side, with a door through to the bar and pleasant outdoor seating to the back.
Black Country Ales added this to their portfolio in May 2025 as they continue to expand beyond the Black Country and make completing their annual ale trail that bit trickier.

Heading into the front bar with its characterful wood panelling and beams, we found seven cask ales and three ciders available.  The regular 'Pig on the Wall', 'BFG' and 'Fireside' were joined by beers from Silhill, Hobsons, Evan Evans and Oakham.
I took a Silhill 'Bullion' through to the large rear room - a space which is much more recognisably BCA than the front bar, thanks to the wide expanse of familiar fabrics, beige wallpaper and a TV screen listing the beers.

Notices in the gents warned me to mind my language...

Talking of rules and regulations, the next place we were heading to has a few.

Dog Hangs Well (14 Corve Street, Ludlow, SY8 1DA)
The first challenge that the Dog Hangs Well presents is finding it.  There's no pub sign and nothing making it immediately obvious that this three-storey Georgian town-house is your destination.  Mrs PropUptheBar looked at me in alarm when I tried the purple door with the right street number on it, thinking I was about to bowl into some unsuspecting family's front room.
"Next one," said a kindly lady passing-by..."look for the light."

Aha.  This is lit at the times that the pub is open - which isn't for a great deal of hours or days of the week.
Once inside, a corridor takes you into a lobby with three rooms leading off it.  We followed the sounds of much chatter to the back room where we found the bar counter.
Rule one was cash only. 
A choice of Hobsons, Gun, or the 360° Brewery. for cask ales on this occasion,  Procuring a Hobson's 'Champion Mild' (on middling form) I took this through to the quieter quirky front rooms.
Rule two was no mobile phones, which I guess make my pictures below contraband...

A bit of arty mild smut in the snug over the piano, there.
Alongside a chaise lounge, church pews and partitions made from old doors.
The place has been set up in this historic building by the folks who were originally behind the Blood Bay.  The latter has relaxed the rules (by getting a card machine and being chilled about taking pictures, plus not batting an eye when some tourists checked maps on phones to find the restaurant they were headed to).  No such relaxation at the Dog Hangs Well, where I glanced at my screen whilst waiting for the solitary WC and got reprimanded like a naughty school boy.

The odd name was chosen as an amalgamation of the macabre practice of hanging poacher's captured dogs in the Royal woods surrounding Ludlow and the popular Gate Hangs Well pub name.

A bit of further exploration of Ludlow took me south of the town walls to the bridge over the River Teme.  Best poke my head into the pub on the far side.

The Charlton Arms (Ludford Bridge, Ludlow, SY8 1PJ)
Originally known as the Red Lion, this old coaching inn was renamed in honour of the Charlton family who owned the nearby Ludlford House and estate.  It's now very foody, with Michelin logos and AA rosettes on their website.  Rooms facing the water were set up for dining and was packed full when I visited.  But head left of the bar and there are casual areas where it's fine to loiter with a beer.
Cask available was Hobson's 'Best', Wye Valley 'HPA' and Ludlow 'Gold'.  I stuck local with the Gold, in good condition, taken through to a room showing the football.  The local lads were both friendly and very drunk.  All Aston Villa fans, Ludlow appearing to be an outlier in their catchment zone.

Back in the centre of the town, The Church is a recent Beer Guide entry and somewhere I figured I should check out.

The Church Inn (The Buttercross, Ludlow, SY8 1AW)
This is one of those places which dates back to the 14th century, yet is thoroughly 21st century with immaculate paintwork, big bright windows, and a smart modern feel to the busy rooms within.  
It's much changed with a one-time central servery being moved to a small section to one side.  That's where I ended up, out of the way of those finishing their evening meals.  
Note the old 17th century church bell on display at the side of the bar...

A Ludlow 'Best' here was my last pint in the town, with a pop soundtrack and ITV quiz show on TV rather than football.

It has taken me an age to reach Ludlow and I'm glad that I did.  Super castle, a decent set of pubs, and good quality cask ale all round.
I'll be waffling on about London in the next couple of posts - no timber-framed buildings on show.

The Ragleth Hill Walker is Rewarded with Bass

Walking The Strettons
Day three on our Ludlow trip found us travelling 17-miles into the Shropshire Hills to the touristic town of Church Stretton.
The plan for the day was to walk for a couple of hours over the ridge of Ragleth Hill, then visit a pub each in Little, Church and All Stretton.  Apologies to All Stretton who I've cut off the route map...

We could have failed at the first hurdle if we'd have gotten soaked to the bone by a wickedly heavy rainstorm.  Luckily we were sheltered in town throughout this, donning the waterproofs as it eased to a drizzle, stripping out of the waterproofs ten minutes later as we began to climb a hill and broke out in a sweat.
Our route took us through the steep residential roads at the edge of town, then into woodland with some carpets of bluebells.

As the trees thinned, we emerged into open grassy hillside, striding on to reach the peak where views opened up in all directions.

Wonderful. 

After a wind-blown but thoroughly enjoyable stroll along the ridge, we reached the marker for the highest point at 398 meters.  Then it was steeply downhill to the village of Little Stretton.  My beer-sensors could even pick out the pub from the high vantage point.

We made it down, waited for a gap in the traffic to cross the busy Shrewsbury-Ludlow dual carriageway, took the old bridge over the railway lines, then walked straight down the lanes to the village pub.
Did I curse those customers who pulled up just as we rounded the corner and parked their car right in front of the pub instead of in the car park all of 20-meters away?
Hell, yes I did.

Green Dragon (Ludlow Road, Little Stretton, SY6 6RE)
I missed the boot rack in the porch.  They even had a box of plastic shoe covers if you didn't want to display your socks to the world, the Green Dragon certainly not wanting muddy boots traipsing through their rooms.  Fortunately my boots look scruffy but were relatively clean on a mud-free day.

Perhaps quite predictably, I was at the bar in a shot asking for a pint of Bass.
Other options were the Wye Valley big twosome of Butty and HPA, and the local Ludlow 'Gold'.  The Bass was on fine form in this GBG pub.

It's a place that has certainly been given a smart makeover at some point and is geared towards food with two distinct dining areas either direction from the bar. Maybe not a rustic village local then, although tables in front of the bar were occupied by a few folks just popping in for refreshments.
No mild smut in the gents, but you do get a bit of Jack Nicholson on the back of the door...

Our onward path took us up lanes to a caravan park flanked by steep hills, one of which our path took us partway up.  We then traversed the slopes on a route through fields of grazing sheep, eventually emerging at the HF hotel and residential streets of western Church Stretton.
Joules had served us well in Ludlow and the Kings Arms seemed to be the most picturesque pub option in town.

King's Arms (53 High Street, Church Stretton, SY6 6BY)
The Grade-II listed building dates back to the late 16th or early 17th century and was first recorded as being a pub in 1840, although probably operated as such prior to that.
It's full of olde-worlde charm when you step through the door - chucky stone walls, wooden beams, and red-brick floor.  The best seats in the house were to the side of the bar by a wood burner, occupied by a large group of walking types on this occasion, chatting about how many years they'd been coming here.
As you head further back into this Tardis-like inn, it becomes a bit more Joules-y.

 

Big tables, wooden barrels, old signs as decoration.
The ale choice was an identical one to that which we'd found at the Rose and Crown a couple of days earlier: 'Slumbering Monk', 'Pale', 'Citra', plus two seasonals.  I opted for the  'Batch Beer American Pale Ale', 4.1%, brewed with the triple C's of tropical, piney hoppiness that is Citra, Chinook and Cascade.  Not bad at all.
Pity there were no decent tables to take it to, the large back section being set up for the imminent arrival of an afternoon coffee booking.  The garden's very nice though...

It's just over a mile further along the valley to All Stretton which has a 2026 Good Beer Guide entry that I figured we should poke our heads into whilst in this neck of the woods.

The Yew Tree Inn (Shrewsbury Road, All Stretton, SY6 6HG)
In the middle of the afternoon the lounge, with some nice exposed wooden beams, was set ready for diners later in the day, whilst the drinkers bar in the corner had a bit of an unwelcoming feel to it.  Service without much of a smile and a handful of locals getting in the way by standing at the bar.
Peering around them, I could see the now common sight of Ludlow 'Gold' and Wye Valley 'Butty Bach', plus (my pick) the more unusual Green Duck 'Little Green Men'.
A decent fruity pale ale from the Stourbridge brewery, taken outside into the sunshine on the patio.

Leaving the Strettons, there was another Beer Guide pub that we could call into on the way back to Ludlow.

The Apple Tree (Onibury, SY7 9AW)
This red brick building has gone through a few incarnations over the years.  It was originally built as a pub called The Raven at the end of the 19th century.  Since then it has served as bakery, butchers, village store and Post Office, the front windows looking very shop-like.
It transitioned back into a pub in 1998, the new name giving a nod to the local orchards and cider-making country.  There is an apple variety called the Onibury Pippin.
Perhaps I should have had a cider (fizzy keg only, sadly) rather than a Wye Valley 'HPA' (other options being 'Butty Bach' (again!) or Ludlow 'Stairway').

We sat at a chunky table in the corner of the bar, which felt more like a micro than a pub room, albeit one in a characterful village setting rather than in a parade of bland shops in Solihull.
It was doing a good trade with the locals who must have clocked-off early on a Friday afternoon.  A handful of old boys giving us a friendly welcome, the younger generation 'blokes of Onibury' getting well into a session on Carling and tequila shots.

Great to see the pub being so well used - I just wish I hadn't arrived right at the beginning of a round being brought - "Who haven't we done?  Go and ask Gav if he wants a Carling.  Nah we've done Stu - whose is that one on the bar?" - all whilst the cheery staff member totted them up on a bit of paper and calculator in the seeming absence of a cash register.  

We'd done four very different pubs and a cracking short walk in the Shropshire Hills.
Right ⮚ Back to Ludlow and the Blood Bay to see if the Bass had come on.
Yes it had and it was gorgeous.
🔺🍻

 

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.