The riverside at Castlefields

The riverside at Castlefields

Sunday 14 April 2013

The Castle Inn and Old Pubs in General

No matter how poor their condition might be, no matter how unloved they may have become, it's always sad when an old pub closes, and even sadder when they are swept away by bulldozers.
Even your ten-a-penny Victorian pub (and there will be thousands of them up and down the country) will have seen 150 or so years of history.
Just think of all those people, down through the decades, who will have gone there to celebrate or to drown their sorrows - or just to put the world to rights with a few friends.
So, yeah, I was a little sad, for instance, when the Hen and Chickens in Coleham bit the dust not so long ago.
I had enjoyed a few pints in there over the years - many of them with our dad, God rest his soul.
Having said all that, I rather like the smart and elegant building which has taken its place, by the way. At the risk of infuriating many of my fellow pub lovers, I might even go so far as to say, architecturally, the new (mock Victorian) building is probably a huge improvement on the ill-fated Hen and Chicks.
But I digress.
A number of local pubs will have fallen victim (as countless others have across the nation) to the competition presented by cheap drink from the supermarkets, changing demographics, and people increasingly nowadays staying at home and watching the telly (or home cinema) rather than going down the local.
I think Shrewsbury has actually weathered this storm rather well, actually, with surprisingly few pubs going under.
But one pub whose fate is still in the lap of the gods, it seems, is The Castle Inn in Coleham. You know the one I mean. The one that is set well back from Belle Vue Road but which could also be approached from its Peace Cottages side. Some people call it the back-to-front pub because it appears to be facing the wrong way. This is because the Peace Cottages side was originally the main road, but then later, Belle Vue Road became the principal route through the suburb.
Anyway, my own memories of this particular watering hole include being there on a few occasions when live rock music was on offer. And I was with our dad and my father-in-law there one night and they absolutely hated the music, pleading with me to finish off my pint so we could move on somewhere quieter.
It's been boarded up now for a good few years with no sign of anyone doing anything with it.
According to 'A Heritage of Old Inns and Taverns of Shrewsbury' by Derek Row, The Castle Inn was previously called The Windsor Castle and then, later, The Bull and Pump, and as such was recorded from 1780.
It doesn't look anything like that old, but then a lot of these pubs are much older than they look, having had various extensions and alterations made over the years.
From 1856 it was called The Castle Inn and it adjoined an old mansion once called The Gibralter. (Yeah. I know. Answers on a postcard please).
The place was auctioned by one WM Smith (not to be confused with WH Smith) in January 1820. At that time it comprised five chambers, two parlours, a kitchen, one scullery, pantry, brew-house, excellent vaults, large stables and other outbuildings, yard piggery and good garden with a pump.
I can only imagine that the yard piggery, the garden, the outbuildings and the stables were cleared a century or more later to allow for the parking of these new-fangled motor cars. . . the place has boasted a large car park for  some time.
In 1874 to 1882 the premises were owned by William Hazledine of The Woodlands in Abbey Foregate and then Shrewsbury's Trouncers Brewery (their old headquarters are now luxury flats on Kingsland Road) took over the ownership until the 1900s.
What I love about history is the way in which everything interconnects. Just then, did you notice? William Hazledine. The Woodlands in Abbey Foregate. Trouncers Brewery. The Castle Inn. It's like joining up the dots, and as you do so, it all comes to life.
Later into the 1900s it was owned by Shrewsbury and Wem Breweries.
In the 1960s through to the 1980s it was a centre for folk music.
Doubtless, there will be plenty of readers with their own memories of The Castle Inn and I would dearly love to hear from you.

1 comment:

  1. Just passed this pub on the train and felt sad it was closed....what bands played there?

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