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!
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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?
- Community PubsThe local community in Ryton have now completed the purchase of the Fox. Shares are currently available to buy to help them reach their goal of £200,000. See their website for details.
- SocialsThe next branch social is the daytime Public Transport Group trip to Ludlow on Thursday 19th June. See the Events page for further information.
- Pub of the SeasonWell done to the Royal Hill Inn in Edgerley for winning our Pub of the Season Spring 2025 award. More information is available on the Pub of the Season page.
- Good Beer HereWe've developed a new scheme to recognise pubs that consistently serve good quality real ale, and to give them a window sticker to display. More info in our News article.
- Pub of the YearWe have now announced the winners and runners-up in our branch's Pub of the Year 2025 competition. See our news article for details.
- Branch SocialThe next branch social is the Friday evening Beer Bus to rural pubs around Oswestry on the 27th June. See the Events page for further information.
- Oswestry Pub GuideOn the Pub Suggestions page, we've added a link to a new guide that we've put together for real ale pubs in Oswestry town centre. Give them a go!
- Community PubsThe local community in Ryton have now completed the purchase of the Fox. Shares are currently available to buy to help them reach their goal of £200,000. See their website for details.
- SocialsThe next branch social is the daytime Public Transport Group trip to Ludlow on Thursday 19th June. See the Events page for further information.
- Pub of the SeasonWell done to the Royal Hill Inn in Edgerley for winning our Pub of the Season Spring 2025 award. More information is available on the Pub of the Season page.
- Good Beer HereWe've developed a new scheme to recognise pubs that consistently serve good quality real ale, and to give them a window sticker to display. More info in our News article.
- Pub of the YearWe have now announced the winners and runners-up in our branch's Pub of the Year 2025 competition. See our news article for details.
- Branch SocialThe next branch social is the Friday evening Beer Bus to rural pubs around Oswestry on the 27th June. See the Events page for further information.
- Oswestry Pub GuideOn the Pub Suggestions page, we've added a link to a new guide that we've put together for real ale pubs in Oswestry town centre. Give them a go!
Next Events
Shrewsbury & West Shropshire CAMRA committee meeting at the Prince of Wales. All members welcome. Note that the start time for the committee 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 Committee meetings, please see the Branch Management section in the Our Branch page.
Shrewsbury & West Shropshire CAMRA festival working party, organising the next Shrewsbury Beer Festival. 7:15pm start at the Prince of Wales in Shrewsbury. Members and non-members welcome. For more information on these meetings, see the Festival Working Party section on the About Our Events page.
Social and beer scoring trip by public transport from Shrewsbury to Whittington, Welsh Frankton, Ellesmere. Details will be confirmed about a week before the trip starts. Members and non-members welcome! For more information about our Public Transport Group (PTG) trips, please see the About Our Events page.