We were very excited when the opportunity arose for us to buy Henry Tudor House, having admired the pub for many years, we were very keen and outlined our philosophy to Graham and Clare. We are grateful that they have confidence in us and they have been an absolute delight to work with during the process of taking over the building, we are very excited to be able to work together in this next exciting chapter.
After successful careers, Graham in the utility industry and Clare with the RIBA, they realised their joint dream of working together, following the purchase of Grade 1 listed Old Lion Tap in 2011, the only Grade 1 listed pub in Shrewsbury and an important heritage asset for the County.
What followed was an ambitious 12-month project of restoration, renovation, and redesign, supported by the Conservation Team at Shropshire Council, reopening in November 2012 under the new brand of Henry Tudor House, to acknowledge the Royal history of this iconic building. Since HTH, as it’s locally known, has established itself as an award-winning favourite of the town, with a reputation for great service, good quality food, and drink within what is one of the most atmospheric venues in the County.
Graham said “once we took the difficult decision to seek retirement after 10 fantastic years, the challenge was to find a new owner for our beloved building. Someone who shared our values and beliefs of the business and its team.” Clare added, “After only our first meeting with the management team from Joules, Graham and I both knew they were our first choice, an enthusiastic family-led business who spoke passionately about their own journey and HTH’s reputation and heritage.”
Over the coming months, Graham, Clare, and the team from HTH will be working closely with the Joules’ management as together they write the next chapter in Henry Tudor House’s story.
Anna Brakel, Joules Operations Manager
As a local Shropshire Brewery based just a stone’s throw away from the County town in nearby Market Drayton, we are thrilled to announce the addition of our latest Taphouse, Henry Tudor House on Wyle Cop. It has always been a goal for us to have a taphouse in the centre of Shrewsbury, we really wanted a flagship in the heart of our County town to showcase our beers, this is our first choice building and Wyle Cop is just right for us. As an independent Shropshire brewer, it’s the part of town where we feel most at home with other like-minded small businesses and we hope we can keep up with their flair. It’s also really nice to be neighbours with Tanners who we have dealt with for over 20 years.
Joule’s beer is brewed with Shropshire mineral water and is drawn from a local aquifer, naturally filtered through sandstone and bunter pebbles. Joule’s already has a presence around the centre of Shrewsbury with Taps nearby, The Bricklayers Arms, Copthorne, The Dolphin on St Michaels Street in Shrewsbury, and The White Horse opposite shire hall which is currently being refurbished.
We were very excited when the opportunity arose for us to buy Henry Tudor House, having admired the pub for many years, we were very keen and outlined our philosophy to Graham and Clare. We are grateful that they have confidence in us and they have been an absolute delight to work with during the process of taking over the building, we are very excited to be able to work together in this next exciting chapter. Our whole team is very proud that it will be a part of our estate and we want it to be the best that it can be, we are looking forward to working with Graham, Clare, and their team, continuing the ongoing success of HTH. Henry Tudor House will be a part of a small select group of Joule’s Brewery Taphouses across Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire all of which are franchised, where the operators can run their own business under the Joules brewery tap offer. Joules are keen to hear from anyone interested in the franchise for HTH. Contact rachel@joulesbrewery.co.uk
Joules is yet to outline its plans for the building.
It’s essential to us that we get this right. We are going to take our time in crafting Henry Tudor House into a Joule’s Taphouse, the work completed 10 years ago is outstanding and we greatly admire Clare and Graham’s vision, design, attention to detail, and focus on quality. In many ways it already has the feel of one of our taps using natural materials, soft and complementary colours which creates a warm and convivial space, it has terrific charisma and is innately sociable, we absolutely love it and our goal is to retain that charm and character. I especially like the way they have created hand-crafted contemporary oak panels which work brilliantly in a 15th-century pub, effortless and classic, it really is an outstanding design amongst the best I have seen. We have pencilled in next January and February to do some work, they will not be extensive at all, just a gentle repositioning as a Taphouse. Before we make any changes we first need to listen to the team and customers and we will take it from there.