29 Market Street, Tamworth, B79 7LR
Albion Road, Marden, TN12 9DT
Riviera Centre, Torquay
11-13 April 2025
23 Haltwhistle Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CM3 5ZA
Unit 11, Valley Point Industrial Estate, Beddington Farm Road, Beddington, CR0 4WP
Argyle Place, Love Road, Lowestoft, NR32 2NZ
116, Foregate Street, Chester, Chester, CH1 2HH
Accredited for beer quality 2022
This 18th-century Grade II listed town-centre pub pub, located in what is said to be the shortest street in the town centre, has a nationally important historic interior. The pub consists of four rooms, all linked by an L-shaped corridor. From the frontage there are two entrances, the right-hand door take you into what is nominally the lounge (spartan by modern standards, it is the largest room, with a bare wooden floor and is the location of the dart-board). The left-hand door takes you into the corridor. First room on the right is what is labelled on the window glass the 'Bar Parlour'. This is a small bar, usually filled with locals, but with the only direct access to the pump-clips on show. Next room up the corridor (on the left) is the 'Smoke Room'. The sign as you enter: 'Gents Only until 1975' is a reminder of a bygone age. The room houses scrubbed tables, high backed settles set into the partition wall, a shove halfpenny board and is dominated by a large fire-place. At the corner of the corridor is a small snug area (the 'Poet's Room'). Although having its own window, surrounding buildings don't allow for much natural light, so the atmosphere is always one where one imagines many clandestine meetings have taken place. This room and the Smoke Room can gain access to the bar via a servery in between the two rooms. Following the corridor round leads you to the toilets and the Lounge, which has its own servery access to the bar. This now has portraits of famous writers on the walls.
Unsurprisingly perhaps the pub has since been somewhat of a GBG institution, appearing in 33 of the 43 editions. All in all, a classic pub, until recently the only concession to the 21st century being the TV in the parlour bar (usually in silent mode, naturally). However TV & radio have started to encroach on the lounge, especially on major sporting occasions (eg Rugby). Unspoilt by progress? - you decide. Cheap cask ales on Tuesdays.
Historic Interest
Originally the Greyhound, by 1828 it had changed its name to the Shrewsbury Arms. Thanks to the heraldic arms of Shrewsbury featuring three leopards heads which was replicated on the pub sign, the pub's nickname became the Loggerheads, which over time has become its permanent name. In 2004 the owners inadvertently caused a local media storm by replacing the pub sign after a refurbishment. The new one featured the picture of a loggerhead turtle, totally unrelated to the well-documented history of the pub. Fortunately Bankss (as it was) saw sense and replaced it, the 'turtle' sign now hangs on the corridor wall as a momento of this time.
Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance
Listed status: II
A wonderfully unspoilt pub occupying an 18th-century building in the old heart of Shrewsbury and still with four separate rooms
Off the left-hand passageway are a serving hatch (right) and the venerable (former) ‘Gents Only’ bar (now an outlawed feature of pub life!), formed by a timber and glass partition which doubles as a high-backed settle: the left-hand wall has some reused 16th- or 17th-century oak panelling. Here there are some old (non-working) bell-pushes and a traditional slate shove ha’penny board. The tiny front bar in the centre is a homely room with plain furnishings and at the rear left is a tiny snug (‘Poet’s Corner’) with old padded bench seating. The corridor runs around the back of the servery to the lounge bar which occupies a (probably) inter-war extension and which has fixed seating on two sides, a brick fireplace, a hatch to servery and a parquet floor. The other floors throughout the pub are quarry-tiled. The pub name derives from the three leopards’ heads on the Shrewsbury town arms (also adopted for the county in 1895).
A wonderful unspoilt pub right in the heart of Shrewsbury - its interest lies in a series of four separate rooms so that it looks much as it would have done a hundred years ago. The white-painted three-storey building dates back to the C18 with a single storey extension of the late 19th or early 20th century which houses the lounge bar. It was purchased by Banks's (now Marston's) brewery in 1994 who has taken good care of it including spending some £1/4 million in 2008 (the pub closed for 8 months) to stop it leaning further! The left hand door leads to an uneven brick-floored passageway with a serving hatch on the right. To the left is the Gentlemen's Bar (now an outlawed feature of pub life!) formed by a timber partition with an iron stay attached to a ceiling beam and borrowed glazing along the top. The partition acts as bare high backed settle and the exterior wall is lined with reused C16 oak panelling with bench seating attached. This splendid small quarry tiled room retains an old 'Smoke Room' etched window and has a Victorian (EH) (looks 30s brick to me) inglenook-style fireplace across the corner with bracketed shelf above. There are some old (non-working) bell pushes still in place and a slate shove ha'penny table is always available for play.
The tiny front bar has a counter (date??) and an old mirrored bar back with a more modern lower section, although there were some changes in 2008 following the structural repairs but essential what was there was mainly put back. This homely room contains a plain timber dado, a small cast fireplace and two benches which are of no great age. At the rear left is the tiny snug / 'Poet's Corner' with a red quarry tiled floor and brown painted plaster walls with wooden frames to give the effect of panelling. It has old padded bench seating all around the room, a small cast-iron fireplace (age?) and just two tables. The corridor runs around the back of the servery to the lounge bar which was last refurbished in the 1930s. It has a parquet floor, fixed seating on two sides with panelling above it (but no sign of bell pushes), a brick fireplace and service from a hatch to the side of the servery, all from the 1930s.
This Pub serves 3 changing beers and 2 regular beers.
Loggerheads, Shrewsbury
Sports TV
Live Music
Dog Friendly
Real Ale
Real Heritage Pub
LocAle
Cask Marque
Love Cask Beer?
Join CAMRA to support the campaign to access more features plus access to a range of different benefits.
Become a member
