Wild Pigs In Pubtown

If you are trying to follow some kind of pattern on this blog at present then I admit it is a lost cause I am delivering a veritable smorgasbord of Midlands’s destinations.

Recent posts have seen visits to West Bromwich, Long Eaton, Sawley, Calf Heath, Burton, Stretton, Shrewsbury, Coalville and a hamlet near Droitwich Spa in no particular order.

I do this of course just to confuse Martin et al whose strict timetables and planning in order to tick off open GBG pubs in Anstruther takes a phenomenal amount of time.

This blog, by way of contrast, has little if any planning (I can tell by the content I hear you cry) but that does mean I can visit some random pubs in some far flung places of the Midlands.

My definition of the Midlands is the Star Soccer version of the eighties and that means Shrewsbury comes under that guise very nicely.

It’s one of those places like Ashby De La Zouch and Hereford, although a slightly bigger version, whereby it is a little bit isolated but that makes it a great #pubtown.

It’s too far to travel to exotic places such as Telford, Wolverhampton or Wrexham for a banging night out so the locals tend to flock in their masses to boozers all over the town.

This was definitely the case when I popped into 387 – The Wild Pig SY3 9JT on a Sunday evening at around 9pm.  This place was formerly known as the Brooklands Bar & Restaurant and it has matchday parking for the Shrews are arguably its most important features as its situated on the outskirts of town next to a garage.

However, appearances can be deceptive as I walked into the lounge and lowly lit dining area I thought it would be quiet but on entering the bar it was totally the opposite.

(carnage awaits)

It was heaving with around 35 people and a fair few were absolutely wrecked.  I mean the sort of wrecked where conversations are slurred and repeated and you’ve been on an all dayer!

There was lots of pork around the place as some of the locals had tucked into meat feast platters but it was hog roast and munchies food as opposed to a la carte and this really felt like a proper local.

There were games of pool and darts going on with golf on in the background on Sky Sports but the noise levels were high, the laughter was loud and it definitely wins the award for having the most hammered punters in 2019 so far…

The gaffer pulled through a XXX (Three Tuns) and really took his time over it, which was a good sign.  It wasn’t bad although I didn’t see many other punters on the cask, which is no bad thing.

It was a fantastic carnage really and you would be oblivious to it if you had been there all day, which most of the punters had.

There was no aggro though and I went for a five minute sit in the lounge and one of the lads said “I don’t blame you…it’s much quieter in there.”

From the outside this looked very much like a diner but, whilst it sells food and has a low lit room, the bar couldn’t be any more old school pub if it tried.

(Red marks signify amount of pubs Martin needs to complete GBG – all open one day a week between 12-3)

Shrewsbury is becoming one of the pub towns of the Midlands.