Shrewsbury Arms in Stafford

The Shrewsbury Arms is one of those traditional pubs with lots of nooks, crannies and little snugs. Add a roaring, real fire and it is cosiness at its best. There were the ubiquitous tellies on the walls for sport but, in much more traditional vein, there was also a large selection of board games for those of that persuasion. We were happy enough just to enjoy our beers by the fire, which felt particularly luxurious on such a freezing cold evening. Service was nice and this is a really good pub.

What a great place the Shrewsbury Arms is lovely staff a really warm welcome and a great selection of beers. We called in for a pre theatre drink greeted by a very friendly guy, I assume is the landlord. A very traditional pub very clean and well lit all good. A pity we couldn't have stayed longer.

Went twice on visit to Stafford, great range of proper beers, not much food on offer otherwise would have stayed longer

Amazing real ale pub with an excellent range of ales. Tom the new landlord is very welcoming and the pub is a brilliant place to visit. There is a bowl of water for the dog. Lovely baguettes to eat and real fires. A selection of games and sport on various TVs. Will be visiting here again.

Went here with a few mates for a pint and ended up staying for a few! Had an amazing selection of cobs, pork pies and scotch eggs behind the bar for when we got peckish. Sat by the lovely real log fire. Brilliant welcome and will be back for a few drinks again very soon. Well worth a visit.

Brilliant new landlord. This has now become our regular real ale pub. Great log fires, brilliant pub atmosphere. Came in here when previous landlord ran it and there wasn't any atmosphere. If you haven't been here for a while, drop in for a drink - you won't be disappointed.

We visit this pub regularly for drinks and snacks with our children. Since Tom has taken over he has completely transformed it, the beers and ciders are lovely and the selection of bar snacks is great. I would definitely recommend visiting it as the old Shrewsbury Arms has gone and the new one is fantastic.

Great if you like Real Ale but unfortunately there was no food or snacks the day I visited. Great beer though.

Much better music than the other pub I visited a few hours earlier. Music relaxing. Pub was fairly quiet on my visit. Some papers to peruse on the bar. About 8 sets board games around right hand side far end of pub. Tv was off, which wasn’t an issue. Cobs & porkpies £1.50 each. Sweet can dispenser machine in the pub too, big kids delight.

this pub is really on the up and up :-) ... warm and welcoming .. lovely coal fire and people chatting having fun .... great place to go and visit

Very pleasant boozer, great selection of ales which are well kept and also serves craft ciders."Barmaids Baps" (great pun) freshly made are a treat for £1.50. The owner is a very polite chap and the barmaid Sonia is also very polite and humble and will also have a conversation with you which is nice to have when you walk into a pub. Highly recommended indeed!

Popped in while waiting on our bus for a quick one. Opened the door and the first thing that hits you is the pine smell. Very overpowering. Ordered our drinks and while sitting had a look around, the bar was spotless along with all the furnishings. The toilets were probably one of the cleanest I've ever been in. Good choice of ales which are changed every week. Would definatly go in again as the member of staff was very courteous.

If I had reviewed this mid last year it would have definitely received a 4, if not a 5. It is one of many pubs in Stafford serving real ales, we having tried this after it re-opened, made this one of our regular stop offs on a weekend due to the excellent service, great range of ales of all colours and decent background music. The manager and specially one of his staff took a keen interest in the clientele, including ourselves, a group with differing beer tastes), and they got to know the clientele and their drinks and even with 10 pumps on they could often advise you which you would like and be 100% correct. Of course having 10 pumps you want to try more than one which we often did, and there was rarely a bad one, or even if there was, there was still plenty to move on to. The beer was kept well and had a good range outside of the obligatory BCA own brews, which in all honesty I find boring, so to then have 7 other real ales to choose from is great, and the range was generally very good and varied, often with one if not two darker stout/porter ales which are very popular in Stafford. However, something happened. We arrived one week to find them gone. Being local and associating in certain circles I've heard 'reasons' as to why. However, it is disappointing, as like I say, front of house and the beers were excellent. The couple that took over, which included managing over Christmas, seemed to take no interest in the older regular folk in preference to the people that seemed to arrive with them, with that a change in background music and the whole vibe of the pub changing negatively, not helped by the dreadful service of the staff they brought in, ignoring you whilst they served said mates when blatantly you are at the bar already and they have arrived later. No matter how busy it is, bar work is a skill, one of those skill is pouring a good beer, another is the ‘knowing’ who came in and when, it seems a skill lost mostly with numerous establishments. It is also around this time beer selection seemed to drop often finding pumps empty, with limited choices. With some gratitude, these have now been replaced with another manager. I’m still unsure about this place as a regular establishment as since the new manger has been in place the beer range has been lacking. Often out of 10 pumps some are not on, and rarely a stout/porter. Having spoken with other locals and the staff the excuse given is dark beers/stouts don’t sell well in warmer weather (this is going back a couple of months, not even the current heat wave we’re experiencing). This to me is just an excuse as I see stouts being served else where all the time and running out, with others ready to put on. I suspect the lack of stout is down to clientele choosing to go elsewhere due to previous experience in the pub along with the lack of choice. Going from often a couple of dark beers to none is an extreme drop regardless of the reasoning. No doubt we’ll give it a few more chances with the new manager as he seems a nice chap and it’s the type of pub we enjoy with many of or friends and locals also liking to include it on their route, but the beer range does need to be re-established to please all real ale tastes.

Relaxing few hours with well kept ale.Leon the host kept the fire well stoked our glasses filled and the Chile and garlic scotch eggs were excellent.The.craic was good and the pub deserves to be a well patronised local .I hope that not a lot of people discover it. The surroundings are largely police or other public sector offices with regular bus services

Long L-shaped looking pub. Wood fire on in back room by the toilets, but front fire off. A small selection of real ales available. No cobs available on day we went. Quiet chilled back ground music. Locals at home in pub. Dart board in back room. Games machine in front of pub. Just as awkward to find pub in daylight as it is if you come in the evening. Half the roads have no road names or only sign posted at one end of the road but not the other. Dunno how the council expect people to find their way around if you are not a local person. Opened in Dec 2016.

Great Atmosphere with a Good Range of Real Ales and Cider. Friendly and efficient Staff. The Rolls are a must.

So we decided to give this another try a few months after opening to see if the early teething troubles had settled. I'm afraid that it's going to take a bit of convincing to get me to give it a 3rd try. The outside of the pub proclaims that it is a 'specialised real ale pub' and they do indeed offer a range of real ales and display them across the bar. Unfortunately, in my book, you need to do more than just have the ales, you need to look after them, care about them and have a level of knowledge and understanding. I realise that having 12 ales on tap at any one time might be a little confusing but in a 'real ale pub' you'd expect someone to know which one you'd like if you mention it's name and point at the pull.. I don't expect to have to tell her 'it's no.7' - it was more akin to being in a Chinese takeaway. I'm probably not the target clientele, but I do like a good pint and they have proclaimed themselves as being the perfect place to get one. It's a real shame, lord knows we could do with as many good pubs in Stafford as we can get, unfortunately this isn't yet one of them.

Wow this pub was always ok a little out of the way but wow wow wow. After all of the work done what an amazing find.

Update from my previous review. Visited for a friend's post wedding drinks and service was excellent. Coped admirably with a large influx of people. Good range of drinks and atmosphere was really nice.

Yo tenía un 20 libras nota en mi cartera, sólo pagamos por la bebidas 6. 77 extraño, a dar cambio para un 10 libras nota. cuando el personal del bar donde desafiaron extremadamente grosero. gerente y luego volvió y dijo que estaba equivocado, sin duda era un 10 libras nota como aparece en circuito cerrado. Pedimos ver metraje que era oscuro, y mi esposa y yo recibimos amenaza de comportamiento, no vayas!

Después de caminar por un salto en un par de semanas atrás y nos dimos cuenta que el pub ha sido renovado. Ojalá no estaba conduciendo como una gran variedad de cervezas y sidras con cervezas desde fuera de nuestra zona. Rob me encantó el Devon Dumpling y yo disfrutamos de una oreja de trigo. Volveré. No es una comida de pub, pero un montón de comida para llevar y restaurantes cerca. Acogedor pub amable y tradicional de la ciudad

El aspecto del lugar ha sido mejorado en la renovación, pero cualquier mejora se detiene allí me temo. . . .

Pleasantly surprised, as the whole place smelt fresher, looked & felt cleaner. Only stopped for one drink, but may consider using it again soon. Staff much friendly than previous.

Así que nos fuimos para una rápida pinta en la ruta a recoger comida para llevar. Sabíamos que había sido reformado y ahora estaba vendiendo en sí como una ale 'pub. A darles su debido tenían una variedad de 10 cervezas - que es un buen esfuerzo, aunque 3 de ellos eran de Black Country cervezas. Elegí un BCA y fue muy agradable - no la mejor del mundo, pero está bien. Creo que mi mayor decepción fue el ambiente, tipo de cataratas entre una gente y un destino potable pub ale pub. Había una variedad de clientela y nos podría haber sido haciendo un flaco servicio al visitar un sábado por la noche temprano (1930) antes de que se calentó, pero simplemente no me creo que tengo que volver aquí otra vez. No en mi lista top 5 pubs y stafford y, aquí estamos hablando de Stafford, estoy luchando para llegar a mi top 10! ! Sin entrar en mi camino en otro lugar para una rápida pinta, pero sería para el ale en vez de el pub en sí, es una pena podría haber sido mucho mejor. .

A city centre pub near the police station. Unfortunately road had no name, so if you’re none locals like us, & visiting in the evening, it wasn’t easy to spot if you hadn’t been here before. No parking, unless blue badge in side road. Restricted parking Mon – Sat by library over the road.A multi section, big spacious pub, sort of “O” shaped inside, with bar in centre area. Real coal fire, newspapers to peruse & games machine too.7 real ales, 2 ciders.2 ladies toilets.This pub was brought by Black Country Ales in Sept 16 & re-opened 08 Dec 16.Only serves cobs, which were sold out before we got there.

This place has recently been refurbished after being bought by Black Country Ales. I have heard mixed reviews, mostly positive about the refurb but some negative comments regarding the the tidiness of the place with a large number of glasses left uncollected by bar staff when the place was quiet. On my visit the place was clean and tidy and I like the refurb. The beer was good, although there were only two guest beers on alongside the Black Country Ales. I usually expect a larger range in a BCA pubs and the range was disappointing but I shall visit again.

Got off to a good start. Choice of drinks good. Bar staff excellent. Have to point out that my only dislike at this point was the overwhelming smell of kebab and takeaway food (being eaten at bar by management! ). Group of guys came in and having a fun until management came to ask them to stop enjoying themselves. They weren't out of order or overly loud but apparently too loud for the pub. Not great.

Smells awful, poor service, expensive. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Well unless you like the smell of urinal cakes. Plus it's narrow and easy to get lost. Awful, awful, awful pub

Whilst in Stafford and needing a walk and trying to get away from football on large screens we came across the Shrewsbury Arms which looked very different from the outside than what we found inside. It can only be described as a rough looking pub when approaching but inside was like entering the Tadis and we discovered a pub with a great 'charm' and community feel. Football was being shown but here there was a place to hide away. They even had Jelly Babies. Drinks were very reasonably priced and the chairs very comnfortable

We went in this pub for a drink, the barman was friendly but when I paid for the drinks he refused my Scottish £20 note. The reason he gave was that the landlady had been given a forged Scottish note at some stage. This is ridiculous as it ease fairly easy to cheque for forgeries visually and by using a pen like my wife does at her work.Luckily I had enough small change to pay the bill otherwise we would have walked out.

This is a pub with real character. Everyone is so friendly I would liken it to the TV series "Cheers" as everybody knows your name.