I plan on visiting Shrewsbury very soon. I'd be very grateful for a little bit of advice from locals. First of all, are there any dodgy areas of the town I need to avoid? Is it safe to visit the Quarry? I've heard rumours of drunks and beggars causing trouble in the park.

Where can I find a cheap but decent place for a meal? Even a good chippy would do, although I'd prefer a good pub or cafe.

Also, I'll only have about five hours in the town, so where can I find the most interesting places and features? I know about the castle and the abbey, and would be interested in any historical or quirky features, as well as parks and gardens.

Sorry, I know this is a lot of questions. I'd be truly grateful for any advice. Thanks for reading ;)

Avoid Monkmoor, but it's well out of the river loop so you're probably unlikely to see it anyway. The Quarry is perfectly decorous during the day - it's later at night that the homeless gather there. During the daylight hours, you might want to steer clear of the small park opposite the Shrewsbury Hotel by the Welsh Bridge, if you don't want to see any homeless folk at all.

Good meal deals - Yates's or the Shrewsbury Hotel restaurant, both in Mardol, two meals for five squid.

Good places - Rowley's House/Mansion/Museum, on Barker Street, Old St. Chad's (the Lady Chapel), the oddly Orthodox Church-esque but Protestant St. Chad's, St. Mary's, the Square, the Bear Steps/St. Alkmund's/St. Julian's, Shrewsbury (RC) Cathedral, and for a laugh you can wander down Grope Lane if you like pokey shops and a historic ex-red-light-district.

All places mentioned are inside the river loop.

All IMHO.

Please elaborate What is wrong with Monkmoor???????????? :angry:

i agree no probs with the quarry. we have been going there quite a bit recently with picnics and letting little one play at the park-never seen any trouble.
we went for a nice walk the other day round the quarry and over the bridge to coleham. here we went to the crown pub and had a meal which was good cheap food and what we liked was the fact the weather was lovely and we were sat looking out over the river.
it might be further than you want to walk but it was very pleasant :D

Yes just exactly what is wrong with Monkmoor?
You could have a ride on the river boat that takes you on a nice ride in this weather, can be found along the smithfield road by the welsh bridge, opposite the armoury pub (which also does good food too!)

Many thanks, everyone. I appreciate your advice and look forward to visiting :D.

The Three Fishes on Fish Street does nice pub grub, my favourite place at the moment for coffe and a cake or a snack is Bellini's on the corner of Milk St and High St.

Other good pubs for lunch include The Coach & Horses and The Bellstone.

Cromwell's, The Armoury and The Golden Cross are a bit more expensive but worth it if you fancy something really nice.

Personally I wouldn't say there were any no go areas in Shrewsbury, I'd be happy to walk around any street or area, day or night, although I wouldn't recommend some places at night to people who don't know the town.

The most dangerous areas are probably outside the meatmarket nightclubs at weekend kicking out time but the Quarry is fine and well worth a visit.

Avoid the "West End" on a Friday or Saturday night. (that's the Barker Street, Mardol, Raven Meadows area)

Other than that you'll be fine.

Oh and you might want to avoid Seventy Steps... :rolleyes:

Presumably you are female sianikatt. I certainly would not roam around anywhere in the quarry by myself at night. I would avoid areas around the Abbey personally,lots of people sleep rough there and lots of bail hostels on Abbey foregate. There have been some violent attacks in the early hours on the English bridge, I think it relates to the peach tree.

Well, Andy, it is perhaps a little inappropriate to suggest that attacks on English Bridge are related to the Peach Tree as this unfairly reflects negatively on that business.

The Peach Tree and the adjoining "C21" is a modern, trendy and friendly bar/restaurant, well-known very popular with all ages of customer, whose owners are well respected in the community, and have over the years reinvested heavily in the business to make it what it is today - a first class venue for a diverse range of people. I am not connected with this business, by the way, but I am a regular customer.

I have to say I found it somewhat amusing to contemplate no-go areas in town. I don't think there are any. It's not exactly the Bronx! I think it's just a question of using a bit of common sense as you would anywhere, and yes, I know you could be unlucky, but really, I wouldn't give this aspect much thought if I were a visitor.

Organic. One incident reported in the press related to an incident in the peach tree/C21 I was referring to this. I have no doubt that most of the people who go to this'trendy and friendly' restauraunt are law abiding and well respected people I never contested this. It takes only one person to give a place a bad name. This area , Abbey Foregate, is notably getting more press for anti-social behaviour, fact i'm afraid, like it or not. There have during the last six weeks been two violent incidents on the English bridge.clic hereor here

three years in the planning....flying out of Houston Friday morning.....can't wait!

Are you going to the moon? :lol:

do you think the incidents have anything to do with the probabtion hostel being situated in abbey foregate?
my friend has a flat in abbey foregate and many times we have watched youths(god i sounds old) walking past the flats for old people and shouting abuse etc at them. when we saw this we did also shout back for them to stop, which actually they did! as i think it is awful to abuse old people in this manner
i would suggest that these were people coming back from a night out going home anywhere along abbey foregate

Perhaps Abbey Foregate's main problem is that it's the key thoroughfare if you've been inside the riverloop but live out past the Abbey (Sundorne, Monkmoor, etc etc) - hence it's going to get extra traffic because it's en route for such a lot of people, hence it's en route for such a lot of dodgy people? A caught-in-the-crossfire thing.

Same applies, perhaps, to Frankwell, Copthorne et al re: the Welsh Bridge.

There's quite a mixed bunch living on Abbey Foregate - heck, I even used to live on that road!

I'm a bit surprised by all this discussion since I don't feel at all worried about walking round the town at night. This may be because I'm not in a vulnerable group (who have my sympathy completely, I hasten to add, and I realise things may be very different for them), but I've hardly ever felt that 'edginess' in Shrewsbury that I've sometimes come across in parts of London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Wolverhampton etc.

So this happens in every towns 'key thoroughfare' does it Rhassaris? Dont think so! The relationship I feel is more like someone consuming too much alcohol in the pubs or clubs in the area getting out of their heads then assaulting someone riverloop or no riverloop :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the advice - it's very much appreciated. I had a very pleasant day in Shrewsbury and will definitely return sometime soon, as it's a lovely, historic town. I did end up walking around the Abbey area and the English Bridge - not as intimidating as some areas of my home city, Swansea, but I did encounter some dodgy types, including someone begging in an aggressive manner. Needless to say, I hid my camera! Hopefully, I'll have a little more time to explore the next time I visit - the Heart of Wales train broke down on the way up, so I arrived at least an hour late :(.


Once again, many thanks.

Er...aren't the pubs and clubs in the area concentrated on the key thoroughfares? I would expect 90% plus of pubgoers and clubbers who live on Sundorne Road but drink in the riverloop or go dancing at Liquid - for example - to pass through Abbey Foregate on their way home. Wouldn't you?

Hence, a key thoroughfare such as Frankwell or Abbey Foregate is statistically more likely to play host to unwelcome incidents than is somewhere like, say, a cul-de-sac in Gains Park. So that's why I suggested its location is partly responsible for the number of incidents it sees.

And I'd be surprised if you can name any town that has many more problems in the outlying estates, cul-de-sacs etc., than it does in the town centre itself.

I can't help but noticing, when talking about dodgy areas, no one mentioned Dithereington, Harlescott, Castle Walk and Wakeman fields.

And btw, there is nothing really wrong with Monkmoor. You should reffer to the Abbey Forgate.

I dont know where you live in town or maybe you are a taxi driver but the quickest way to Harlescott & Sundorne from the town centre is through Ditherington.Going your way is at least 1 mile+ longer :lol: