The Bishops Castle Beer Festival

Bishops Castle truly is Top of The Hops. With over Six pubs in town, Three of which are in The Good Pub Guide including ourselves, (This is a real honour due to the size of Bishops Castle), Two Breweries and a large number of “experts” it is very easy to understand the love of the Real Ale here. Every summer Bishops Castle host its famous Beer Festival, this is a grand celebration of locally brewed quality Real Ale. The town has now become something of a Mecca for Real Ale lovers and people from all over the country make their pilgrimage to join in the festivities.

Bishops Castle itself boasts two breweries within the town boundaries, with the Six Bells Brewery and Britain’s Oldest; The Three Tunns Brewery. We in Shropshire are blessed with a 18 independent Real Ale breweries including Hobsons, Woods and Stonehouse to name but a few that we stock.

The festival takes on the middle weekend in July, and attracts a vast number of Real Ale enthusiasts from far far away. With over a 120 different Beers across 6 different pubs and breweries, live bands, exhibitions and tours of the breweries and beer making processes it is easy to see why this event has become so special. It is a great example of how the local community join together and put on a really extraordinary weekend.

At The Castle over this weekend we stock over 14 different real ales from local brewers and few from further afield, throw in a couple of locally brewed ciders and the day becomes one to remember (although things can get a little fuzzy towards the witching hours). We have lives bands and a BBQ in our Castle Top gardens with panoramic view over the South Shropshire hills, now a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There is no better place to drink Beer and spend time with friends.