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!
Noticeboard
Branch Socials
The next branch social is the Public Transport Group trip to Whitchurch on Thursday 20th November.
Apart from being great social events, these monthly trips out enable us to survey pubs and assess their beer quality.
On this trip, we will aim to visit at least seven pubs, including three in the Good Beer Guide.
Member's Area
A new feature on the website is a Member’s Area. This can be found in the About Us sub-menu.
You will need to enter your CAMRA membership number and password to access this page.
It will mainly be used as a document storage area, where you will be able to find minutes of recent meetings and other branch documents.
Event Photos
Photos of some of our branch events are available to view, either from the What’s On page or the About Our Events page.
The displayed photos can be filtered by the type of event, with the latest events first in the list.
If you like the look of any of our events, why not come along. Both members and non-members are most welcome.
What's New?
Next Events
Shrewsbury & West Shropshire CAMRA social and beer scoring trip by public transport from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch. 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.
Shrewsbury & West Shropshire CAMRA branch meeting at the Salopian Bar 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.
Dudley Winter Ales Fayre 2025, organised by Dudley & South Staffordshire CAMRA, from Thursday 27th to Saturday 29th November. With over 60 beers and 16 ciders and perries, there will also be red, white and rose wine, as well as soft drinks. Opening hours are: 1:00pm - 10:00pm, Friday 11:00am - 10:00pm and Saturday 11:00am to 8:00pm, although on Saturday may close earlier if the beer runs out. For more information including entry prices and ticket purchase, see the festival webpage.
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.
