The Bull Inn
The Story
Butcher Row takes its name from the butchers who traded here from the medieval period. It runs through the heart of the old town, a narrow street of timber-framed buildings connecting the market area to the lanes heading towards The Square. The inns that once served travellers stopping here have largely disappeared. The Bull Inn at number 7 is the exception.
The building has been providing beds for long enough that its character is accumulated rather than designed. Six rooms and a lounge bar downstairs. The live music on Friday and Saturday nights is award-winning, which helps explain why the bar draws a crowd of locals as much as guests. That is worth knowing before you book: rooms can carry sound from the bar on music nights. Asking for a quieter room when you reserve is a sensible precaution.
Butcher Row sits minutes from The Square, the market and Shrewsbury Museum. The Prince Rupert Hotel is around the corner. The medieval lanes in every direction are walkable from the front door.
Butcher Row has been one of Shrewsbury's most active trading streets since the medieval period, and most of the inns that once lined it are long gone. The Bull Inn is the last one standing. Six rooms, a lounge bar and a live music programme that has earned a following well beyond hotel guests. The location does not get more central than this.
Enjoy Your Stay
Breakfast is a full English and sets the tone. The Square is two minutes on foot from the front door. Walk there before the market opens and Shrewsbury at this hour has a different quality from the busier parts of the day.
The Bear Steps are three minutes on foot — a medieval alley that cuts through the old town towards St Mary's Church. One of the most distinctive short walks in Shrewsbury and easy to find from Butcher Row.
The Market Hall on Claremont Street is five minutes away. Independent traders, street food and local produce. Go before one o'clock for the best choice without the weekend queues.
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery is on The Square, free to enter and worth an hour. Shrewsbury Castle is ten minutes on foot up Castle Street, with the Shropshire Regimental Museum inside and views from the walls across the river loop.
The bar downstairs has a genuine following, and on Friday and Saturday nights the live music is the reason many people are here. If that appeals, book in for both — if it does not, ask for a room away from the bar when you reserve.
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