Cromwells Inn Shrewsbury

11 Dogpole
01743 361440


I like Cromwells. Describing itself as a restaurant, bar and hotel, it is located on Dogpole and fairly unassuming from the outside. But don't be fooled, especially on a Sunday lunch time in the summer. Trust me, there is no better place to be. With one foot inside the front door it looks like a warm and welcoming pub. Keep going past the bar and out of the back door and you'll find a series of tabled terraces nestled among the spires and old buildings of Shrewsbury. This place is a gem.

In a way I don't want to tell you all about it because it will make it even more difficult for me to get a table but information like this has a right to be shared. I'm not sure if you can book ahead but it would be wise if you can. To be honest the location and atmosphere would probably be able hide mediocre food, but fortunately that's not what they serve. This is somewhere between good pub and restaurant food. Great pastas, open sandwiches, lovely fish and chips with tartar sauce. If you do manage to get the table on the very top terrace, you will want to sit there all day. This place is Sunday afternoons in Shrewsbury for me.

UPDATE August 2007: the venue has now changed hands and they seem to be struggling. We visited on a Saturday lunch time with a party of seven. Despite having booked they admitted they weren't prepared for us. While we only had to wait five minutes for a table, we then waited more than an hour for our lunch. Other tables we checked regularly but nobody spoke to us, nor apologised for the lengthy wait. A member of Shrewsbury Tourist Information was also in our party and when they rang to check what had gone wrong the restaurant admitted they were still getting settled in after the ownership change. Cromwells remains a great place to have lunch.

www.cromwellsinn.com