A historical poser

Last month, I wrote a review of Historical Building Mythbusting by James Wright. In this book, the author debunks most of the familiar claims for various establishments to be the oldest pub in England, the British Isles or wherever. But he also comes up with some genuine examples of pubs that have been extensively researched and found to be of great antiquity. Some of these, such as the George at Norton St Philip in Somerset and the New Inn in Gloucester, are fairly well-known, but one that slightly surprised me was what is now the Henry Tudor Inn in Shrewsbury.

I’ve visited Shrewsbury many times over the years, but I have never been in this place, and indeed I hardly knew of its existence. It has had a chequered history, but in recent years became the Lion Tap, associated with the next-door Lion Hotel. This was once one of Shrewsbury’s smartest hotels, but in more recently years was controversially used to house illegal migrants, and is now closed.

It has now been taken over by Market Drayton-based brewer and pubco Joule’s, who have carried out an extensive refurbishment and also extended the premises forwards to provide a frontage on the main street, Wyle Cop, which it previously lacked. While this wasn’t the sole purpose of my visit, on a recent trip to Shrewsbury I took the opportunity to take a look.

It’s a long, narrow, half-timbered building with overhanging upper storeys running along the left-hand side of a narrow alleyway off Wyle Cop. It’s obviously of considerable antiquity, although it was only possible to date it specifically to the early part of the 15th century through dendrochronology. Joule’s have a distinctive style of refurbishment, which can produce some very congenial interiors, although it can come across as a touch arch and self-conscious.

In this case, I’d assume that the interior has been much charged over the years and owed little to the 15th century, but they needed to work around and respect what historical features remained. Essentially it’s in two sections, with a “pub” part at the front, a central bar running athwart the property, and more of a restaurant area at the rear which opens out on the left. As is typical with Joule’s, there’s extensive use of wood panelling and flooring.

However, immediately on walking into the pub, I was struck by how all the seating in the front part, which extends the original pub forward to the street, was comprised of the dreaded posing tables. I have written about these before, on how they are divisive and offputting to the elderly and disabled. They may have a place in trendy bars, but certainly not in what aspires to be a traditional historic pub. Joule’s deserve praise for their work in conserving this unique historic building, but the posing tables are seriousky out of character. I did manage to find a more comfortable berth on the only row of normal-height bench seating, but the general impression was of a pub interior where I did not want to linger.

Fortunately, salvation was near at hand. A short walk down Wyle Cop and across the Severn via the Greyfriars footbridge brought me to the splendid Cross Foxes on Longden Coleham, which is a must-visit every time I go to Shrewsbury. This is a traditional wet-led proper pub with wood panelling, bench seating and carpet, offering Draught Bass, Three Tuns XXX and Wye Valley HPA and Butty Bach. It was pretty busy in mid-afternoon, with plenty of banter flowing from a mainly more mature clientele. It may not be as historically authentic as the Henry Tudor, but I’d much prefer to spend an hour or two there.

On my way back to the station, I called in to the Three Fishes, an old pub on a narrow cobbled street which has a sign on the wall proclaiming that it was “The original smoke-free public house”. I’m not sure that’s really anything to be proud of. Ironically, in the pub I overheard a customer saying that the smoking ban had been one of the main reasons for the decline of the pub trade.