I wrote a few years ago about one of my favourite pubs – the Anchor Inn at High Offley. We spent a couple of days moored there this week, trying to shelter from the worst of the heat. Here are five reasons why I love it so much.

1. It is like pubs used to be. They don’t sell food. They don’t have music except an occasional customer that picks up a guitar. They open at 7pm and close at 11pm. The seats are reclaimed wood. The floors are quarry tiled. There is an open fire, though not in use this week! The landlady finds the right balance between friendly and no-nonsense.
2. It is really isolated. We first found this pub while doing the Four Counties Ring on a hired Narrowboat forty years ago. I liked it so much that when we got home I tried to find it by using a road map and driving back to the area. This was before the days of Internet and Google. It took me weeks!
3. It is a proper boaters’ pub. I went there for two evenings this week and both times got lost in chat with boaters. The first night I struck up a conversation with three solo narrowboaters who moor on an isolated stretch of the Birmingham Canal Network (BCN) and come out for trips together a few times a year. I have always been nervous about cruising the BCN because of rumours of rubbish, shallow canals and vandals. These guys recommended the “BCN Explorer”, where a group of boaters like us get together for a guided tour over a week, ending in a big celebration. I do fancy that.
4. The drinks are well kept. The real ale has been Wadworth’s 6X for at least 45 years. It is served not from a pump on the bar, but collected directly from a barrel in the cellar. They also have scrumpy from the cask. They do have one cold lager and a few bottles of soft drinks and wine for new fangled customers, but this is primarily a beer pub for customers meeting and telling stories of the cut.
5. It never changes. About sixty years ago Olive took over as a young landlady from her parents and grandparents who were there before. Olive died about ten years ago and her daughter Elaine took over. There are pictures in the bar of how it used to be, and apart from the lack of cigarette smoke, the pub looks exactly the same. When I arrived this week, Elaine was excited about a radical change. Because of an issue at the Wadworth brewery with 6X supply, she had added a second real ale, Renegade’s Good Old Boy. As far as I could see, noone was drinking it.

It really is a lovely pub, and even people like me, who do not really like talking to strangers, get caught in the beery chat. I recommend a visit if you are ever in the Shropshire area. Maybe use google maps rather than guesswork to get there!