‘New faces’ visit Shrewsbury pub after launching football pool in beer garden

The new outdoor foosball pool table at The Red Barn pub in Longden Road, Shrewsbury, has attracted “dozens of new faces”, which has delighted the licensee.

Pub operator Brent Catterson said: “I had wanted to do something different for a while and was coming up with new ideas to get the community more involved, then I came across the football pool concept.

“It’s something fun and quirky and we knew right away it would be popular with our local guests. After toying with the idea, I got in touch with a few friends and immediately put our plans into action.”

Within weeks, Brent and friends Colin and Andy had successfully built the Red Barn’s outdoor foosball pool table, and guests couldn’t wait to try it out.

“We held an opening day to launch the foosball pool table and was overwhelmed by all the positive feedback,” said Brent.

“Since we opened it to the public on May 18th, it has been fully booked ever since! We knew it would be a hit with the guests as there is nothing like it here in the Midlands, but the increase in footfall has been huge, the community has been nothing but supportive!”

Guests can book to play pool football by contacting Brent via the Red Barn’s Facebook page, calling the pub or walking in to book their place. The game itself is completely free and can be booked for an hour, with only a £20 deposit required to cover the cost of the balls.

Brent is now encouraging fellow customs officers to consider building a similar feature, he added: “The costs are quite high, but you have to trust the process. It’s great to see our guests getting involved and enjoying it and I’m confident this is something we’ll be able to use throughout the year.

“Our next big event is the Euros, we’re already excited to see new faces join and we’re looking to the future to make sure the football pool is accessible all year round.”

The Red Barn is part of Punch, an independent pub company with around 1,300 pubs across the UK.

Recognized as Best Partnership Pub Company (501+ sites) at the Publican Awards 2024 and Best Leased and Tenanted Pub Company 2022 and 2020. Offers award-winning training programs delivered from a brand new Training Academy. It has invested more than £192m in its pub property over the past six years.