The More Arms in Shropshire

One of my regrets is that in my many visits to Shropshire I never got to have a drink at the More Arms. It was a large pub in the middle of nowhere on the Shrewsbury to Bishop's Castle road that was open (intermittently) until 2001.

I was once told by a passenger on a bus along that road that it used to come into its own on Sunday evenings when people came from the villages on the Welsh side of the main road to drink in England.

The other day the Shropshire Star had some reminscences and photographs of the More Arms and gave an interesting little piece of its history:

“Ronnie Lane frequented the place, and so did Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton played at the Drum and Monkey (at Bromlow). My husband’s father used to drink with Ronnie Lane and Eric Clapton.”

The Drum and Monkey is now called the Callow Inn and, while very friendly, it is a little piece of suburban Birmingham in the Shropshire hills.

And you know how I am always going on about things falling down old lead mines in the area? Well:

“Beauty, our dog, once saved me from an old ruin where a lead mine is. He held on to my dress until someone came. The dress had started to rip. We also lost a calf down there.”