Express & Star

The community pub run by a woman who 'was stuck here' in lockdown - but decided she didn't want to leave

As pubs continue to battle the cost of living crisis, the Star continues its Love Your Local series which celebrates our local inns.

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Tucked just inside the northern gate of a bustling market town is a quiet community pub where great banter and great beer is guaranteed.

The Bear in Bridgnorth is a pub which carries a lineage going all the way back to the 1860s, with the origin of the name believed to have come from bear baiting, which was practised in the town until it was made illegal in 1835.

The Grade II-listed building has been on Northgate since it was first opened in 1868, moving over time from 28 to 24 Northgate and was once famed as a place that brewed its own beer, with the coppers and handpump still visible in the former brewhouse at the rear.

Nowadays, it's a pub which has a single bar serving two areas, with one side having a sports area with pool table, TV and gaming machine, which the other carries a different look, decorated with French windows leading to a neatly laid out garden with a deck patio.

Faye White and David Duncan show off one of the features of the pub, the pool table

The garden has a smoking shelter and outdoor TV and it also gives access to the town car park and weekend outdoor market.

Owned by Craft Union, the pub is currently run by landlady Faye White, who moved in four years ago to help train someone and then, in her words, got stuck there because of the Covid-19 pandemic.