CAMRA Branch Website of the Year 2024
Bailey Head in Oswestry – CAMRA National Pub of the Year 2025
Bailey Head in Oswestry
CAMRA National Pub of the Year
Welcome to the Shrewsbury and West Shropshire branch of CAMRA
As members of the Campaign for Real Ale, we are passionate about real ale and our aim is to preserve and promote real ale and real cider, along with the pubs that provide them. If you’re a fan of traditionally brewed beer, looking to explore something new, or would like to get involved in our campaigning activities, then please get in touch.
Our members are very welcoming and we’re always happy for new people to join us. With our regular events, pub trails, and our famous Shrewsbury beer festival, there’s always something happening. Discover new tastes, make new friends, and support our local breweries and pubs. Hope to see you soon!
We're On Social Media
About CAMRA
Find out more about one of the most successful consumer organisations in Europe, and our vision to have quality real ale, cider and perry and thriving pubs in every community.
Join CAMRA
Why not become a CAMRA member and become part of our campaign. Find out how to join up and see what benefits your membership package includes.
National CAMRA
For more information about the Campaign for Real Ale on a national level, have a look at the national website which contains a wealth of information about our campaign.
How You Can Help
Beer Scoring
Did you know that we had over 5,500 scores/ratings submitted for beers drunk in our branch area last year? A lot of these were from our own branch members but a considerable number were kindly submitted by visitors from other branches of CAMRA.
This may seem a lot but with over 300 pubs in our branch area, it averages out at just over 18 beer scores per pub. In reality, some popular pubs get hundreds of scores and other less frequented pubs just get a handfull. So the more members we can get scoring in more pubs, the better.
It takes no time at all to enter a score or rating for the beers you drink, and it helps each CAMRA branch create shortlists of pubs for entry into the Good Beer Guide and the Pub of the Year competition.
Have a look at our page on Beer Scoring page for more information. It may seem a bit complicated at first but after a while, it becomes a straightforward and easy process, and it really helps us to highlight beer quaility in pubs. If you are a CAMRA member, please have a go at scoring – we would really appreciate your input – thank you!
What's New?
Next Events
Social and beer scoring trip by public transport from Shrewsbury to the Strettons. Members and non-members welcome! This month’s PTG trip will on Thursday 18th September to the Strettons by bus. We will have at 8 pubs to visit in Little Stretton, Church Stretton and All Stretton. These will include two Good Beer Guide pubs: the Green Dragon in Little Stretton and the Yew Tree in All Stretton. Also, the Old Bike Shop in Church Stretton has very kindly offered to open an hour earlier for us at 3pm. Travel Information We will meet at Shrewsbury bus station around 10:45, to get the 435 Minsterley Motors bus from Stand N. Shrewsbury to Little Stretton: 10:55 435 bus from Stand N, arriving at the Green Dragon at 11:41 Little Stretton to Church Stretton: 12:50 435 bus from the Ragleth, arriving at the Church stop at 12:55 Church Stretton to All Stretton: 15:30 435 bus from the Beaumont Road stop, arriving at 15:35 All Stretton to Shrewsbury: 16:35 435 bus, arriving at 17:11 Pubs Little Stretton: Green Dragon (opens at 11:30) Ragleth (opens at 12:00) Church Stretton: King's Arms (opens at 12:00) Buck’s Head (opens at 12:00) Housmans (opens at 09:00) Old Coppers Malt House (opens at 12:00) Old Bike Shop (opening earlier for us at 15:00) All Stretton: Yew Tree (opens at 2:00pm) Hope to see you all on the trip. For more information about our Public Transport Group (PTG) trips, please see the About Our Events page.
Shrewsbury & West Shropshire CAMRA branch meeting at St Mary's Church in Shrewsbury. Members and non-members welcome. Note that the start time for branch meetings will now be 7:15pm, to give people who are getting the train to Shrewsbury time to walk across town. For more information on what happens in Branch meetings, please see the Branch Management section in the Our Branch page.
The next Shrewsbury Beer Festival is scheduled to take place from Wednesday 24th to Saturday 27th September 2025 at St. Mary’s church. More details to be available soon, so keep an eye on our Festival pages on this website and also on Facebook.
Latest News
Socials
Beer Bus
The next Friday evening Beer Bus is going to rural pubs around Oswestry on the 27th June.
Public Transport Group
The next Public Transport Group trip is to Whittington, Welsh Frankton, Ellesmere on Thursday 17th July.
Pub Guides
Oswestry Pubs
Our newest guide looks at real ale pubs in Oswestry town centre, including the Bailey Head, CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year.
Shrewsbury Pubs
Need some suggestions of pub trails in Shrewsbury? Our guide has six trails covering over 40 of Shrewsbury’s real ale pubs.
