Shrewsbury Prison Entry Ticket

Visited the prison but a lot of the rooms were the same. It could have been better if they’d had done them through the eras.

Brilliant, Malcolm was a great tour guide

Parking for us was easy and painless. Straight into reception at the prison and seen straight away. Leisurely stroll round, cup of tea and a bite to eat. Loved this trip

It was interesting to visit, though I would like to have known more about the inmates thst were there. Great educational facility for Britixh prisons etc. I cut my visit short after I became spooked on the top floor (A wing, the 4ths, near cell 42 i think) : I was fine until I reached the far corner from the stairs, kind of above the gift shop, when I had a cold sensation and strong urge to leave, and quite intense sadness feelings which accompanied me until I was well down the stairs again. I left after that without checking if I'd seen the whole place or not!! Anyway, wanted to share this for anyone interested.

My wife likes to visit macabre places, and this was on her list. We purchased the entry ticket and did some basic research before we went, the entry fee of £18 per person was not too expensive, and once in you can stay as long as you like. You can see the prison has in recent times been operational, as there are still some things that were in place at the time. While we were there, we had an opportunity to see interesting cells and areas, and we were lucky to have had a conversation with an ex-officer who is now in the guide team, a very knowledgeable and welcoming man called Malcolm, who told us some interesting things, which I won’t share, because I wouldn’t want to be the person who spoils your surprises. All in all, a great experience

Excellent self led tour. Very spooky!

A friend and I booked the ghost hunt at Shrewsbury prison. I had never been before, my friend had been a very long time before during the daytime. I won't write any spoilers, suffice to say we experienced some absolutely fascinating things, and I am already looking for when I can go back. We had Wendy and Michelle as our guides. I honestly hope that if I do manage to return, that I get to spend the hunt with the same guides. The ghost hunt is absolutely worth it. The prison is very atmospheric and interesting. I had never been inside one before, but it looks like the ones from television shows. Definitely book a ghost hunt here. There is a lot to explore. Its a very active place, if you're receptive to it.

Very good tour, well worth the visit, Malcolm our tour guide made the experience very informative with a twist of humour

We visited Shrewsbury Prison yesterday as a family and, unfortunately, we were really disappointed compared to our previous visit. Last time we visited, there was much more to see and explore. We were able to access other buildings, including the real visitor room and chapel, which made the experience feel much more authentic and interesting. Now, those areas are closed and it feels like they have simply put a cross on the wall and some tables and chairs in a room and called it the chapel and visitor room. The museum section also appears to have gone, which was one of the most interesting parts of our previous visit. It had old prison letters and other items that had been found in the prison over the years. When I asked a member of staff if the museum was still there, she said no and explained that the interesting items had been spread around the prison. However, we didn't see anything like the displays that used to be there. Overall, it feels a lot more boring now. You can basically just walk around the cells, but there isn't much information to read or anything particularly interesting to see. The restaurant was also very disappointing. Last time, it was a proper café with a menu and lots of hot food cooked to order. Now its just pre-packed sandwiches and toasties, which are extortionately priced. £10.95 for a meal deal! For a family of three, a small lunch cost us over £30, which is absolutely shocking considering it wasn't even freshly made. It's a real shame because we really enjoyed our previous visit, but it's definitely not what it used to be. Sadly, we probably won't bother returning.

Excellent Night Last Night . Made a few friends

Absolutely loved it would highly recommend 😊 we did the Hole escape room as well. When you pay for this you get to tour round as well at no extra cost. It’s was so interesting reading how the prison operated and being in a prison with so much history that only closed 13 years ago. The staff were very friendly and it was great hearing about their ghost experiences. I’m coming back for the ghost hunting 👻

A unique way to spend an afternoon! We did the self guided tour, however we did hear bits of the guided tour as they passed and it sounded brilliant and informative! You really do get to look all around the prison; shower blocks, staff offices, cells, court yards…even the execution room. Lots of interesting information dotted about the place to read. Would love to try the escape room if we are ever back. If you are at all interested in prison life/crime stories this is a great place to visit.

Absolutely fantastic visit, such an unusual and unique place to look around, and fascinating to see how prison life has changed over the years. All the staff were so friendly and welcoming, and being dressed in prison warden uniforms added to the authenticity. We did the self guided tour as there's loads of information boards with just the right amount of info on them to read easily whilst retaining interest. Lots of cells from different eras set up as they would've been, as well as the reception/checking in area, kitchens, segregation unit, execution rooms etc. Lots of stairs if you want to visit all the floors, although a lot of it is on the ground floor so don't be put off if you have mobility issues. Small cafe selling sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, drinks and cakes. Added bonus of it all being dog friendly too, which was a welcome surprise as we could take our puppy with us! We spent nearly 4 hours looking round and still didn't read everything - I took photos so I can catch up on it all at home! Highly recommended as somewhere different to go, excellent value for money and was definitely a good choice on a very hot day as it was lovely and cool inside.

The prison is right next to the train station so easy to get too if you want to go by train. The person at the entrance was a really knowledgeable and nice man dressed in a prison officers uniform. The admission free was good value as we got a free carer admission and I noticed there were family deals for the holidays. We stayed for about 2 hours, it's quite a walk and lots of steps. Obviously not every cell is made up but the ones that have been are well done. Make sure you download the map as it's easy to miss some bits. The cafe is very nice, again with some deals. The escape room looks good, we saw a guard shouting outside the escape rooms.

We had a great tour from Alex he was very knowledgeable about the prison. Would fully recommend can’t wait to come back.

A brilliant visit to an old Victorian prison still a working prison into this century. Very interesting, so much to see. We didn't have a tour,and there was lots of excellent information provided as we walked round, free to explore. Friendly, welcoming staff. And we could take our dog in. Perfect in this hot weather!

It was a great night as me and my partner stayed there to have the full experience and we did you definitely did not get spoilt ,you explore the captivating history and unique atmosphere of our 200-year-old prison,learn about the history the deaths we also had the ghost experience we never expected anything to happen but we definitely did experience the paranormal, I have always been skeptical but things definitely did happen and I got to see first hand that there must be something at the other side ,great night thanks.

Very good and nice to be left alone to wonder where ever you wanted to go , Restaurant a bit depressing and not much choice.

We had a very good 2 hour walk around the prison, reading the information boards and taking lots of photos and videos. It really gives you a good feel of what being in prison must be like. The execution room up top was cool.

Visited shrewsbury prison today, great that it was dog friendly as we had our 2 dogs with us, they even got a free treat. We did the self guide tour so wandered around on our own. The way the cells had ben kitted out differently to show the cells through the ages was interesting. me and my husband both have 30+ years each working in the prison service and this prison was brighter and nicer than some we’ve actually worked in! Very interesting, staff all friendly. There was a cafe although we didn’t go in as we had other plans.

Fantastic,Me and my family really enjoyed it would recommend to any family for a great day out . Friendly staff,great food and great location.Will be visiting again soon.

Amazing afternoon at Shrewsbury prison.All the staff were very friendly and man in shop was very happy to talk about his time as a prison officer at Shrewsbury prison.

This is an excellent place to visit. Very interesting and informative. We chose to look round on our own which was interesting enough, however when we next visit will do a guided tour. The staff we did interact with were extremely helpful and some were ex prison officers and really bring the whole place to life. Highly recommend.

I visited here for the second time, and I'm afraid to say it was a slightly disappointing trip. There was a ten minute wait to enter and buy tickets (which I still think are too expensive) and then upon entering we noticed how busy it was. We think there should be a limit on the capacity of people allowed to enter. We had a quick look around before heading for the restaurant. This was busier than usual but there was still seating available. This is the massive letdown here; the food. It was abysmal. We paid £30 for chips, four cans and a cheap and nasty frozen pizza that was probably bought for £2 from Iceland. We had some of the chips (because we were hungry) but the pizza we couldn't eat. You cannot charge prices like that for cheap slop. Apart from that, it was a pleasant visit, but we won't be eating in the restaurant for a while.

Great. Not an experience youd expect to do. Something differnt and saw the conditions the prisionors lived in(not that deserve luxury)

Excellent experience. Unless you’re criminally minded you’ll never see the inside of a prison so this is a fascinating one off. Highly recommended.

Went on a family day trip I enjoyed the attraction and the information displayed was interesting to read and well presented for a self guided tour. However the cafe food was awful, the pizza was dripping with oil and the base was hard and stale standard expected from budget frozen pizza. There was no other hot food options left other than pizza. The chocolate cake was dry and stale tasting. Would advise you take your own food if you ever visit. Food was not worth the price unless they were purposely mimicking prison food. All was well until we were asked to leave one of the rooms we just arrived at by the tour guide as the paid tour groups seemed to have priority over the self guided tour guests. We were told to come back 15 / 20 mins later at which point when we came back we were told to leave as they were shutting early on that day due to unexpected circumstances. Then found out at reception that there was a pre booked silent disco event. This attitude was very disappointing as on payment they should have advised the early closure or advertised this on the website. Also they should be clear that guided tours have priority over the rooms and the tour guides need to be conscious on comments they are making when this is suppose to be a family friendly attraction. The inappropriate comments is unrepeatable here with a few you g children around at the time the comment was made. The lady on reception was very helpful. The only helpful one.

Not worth the money to go back. lady on reception was helpful. You should review your policies on the guided tours, we were doing a self guided tour, as were others, and got kicked out of a room by an arrogant tour guide to accommodate the guided tour. This was very unacceptable because we were paying customers too and entry isn’t cheap!! The food was terrible, the pizza was swimming in grease and cakes were stale. Will not be going back

DO NOT PARK IN THE CA PARK OPPOSITE IF YOU HAVE PRE PAID FOR PARKING as the prison parking is not very well signposted as you drive in and it’s easy to assume that this is the prison parking but it’s not and will end up with you paying twice for parking

Staff at this place are jobs worth, no manors, not helpful very misleading with the 10.00 offer, if it wasn’t for the staff especially the women with short grey hair who thinks she owns the prison, it was a nice day kids enjoyed it.

We visited in the Easter holidays with my 8 year old son and 77year old dad and they both enjoyed it equally. The lady at the front desk was lovely and helpful and we spent a good few hours poking about and doing the free Easter trail. The cafe was lovely with enormous slabs of cake. It’s cold in there though!

We were greeted by friendly Prison Officer Sharon - she gave us a brief resume & sent us off to find out about life 'behind bars in Shrewsbury Prison !! Our visit to Shrewsbury Prison was Fab, great to see prison life as is, as was & has been like, over the decades - enough to stop you commiting the crime OR certainly not getting caught !! A Great couple of hours

We have truly enjoyed our all access tour, we bought an entry ticket so we could view it all at our own leisure. It gives a great insight to how this prison was operated, There really is so much to see, from cells now & then, to showers, booking in rooms, medical and even and execution room! The restaurant is lovely too, FAB cake!

I went on a self-guided rather than organised tour where you are given a map and left to explore on your own and at your own pace. A truly fascinating visit giving an insight into prison life and how it has changed over time; I'm very glad I've managed to stay on the straight and narrow so far! Very chilling to have stood in the execution room where they used to hang unfortunate prisoners,

Great visit, although we wish we had done the guided tour really interesting insight as to the life of a prisoner. If this place in not an insensitive to behave yourself on the outside, then I don’t know what is 😂 We will definitely be returning for the guided tour!

We visited here whilst staying local. The lady who checked us in-so sorry we didn’t get a name! She had handcuffs earrings and cracked a Shakin Steven’s joke, was excellent, very knowledgeable and informative. We toured the prison in our own and enjoyed all of it, the only downside was the cold but this is no one’s fault, just wrap up warm before you go!

What a great place to visit and see what a more modern prison is like. We enjoyed seeing the cells through the years, learn about healthcare in prison and seeing all the different areas of a prison including sitting in the prison van! It felt like some areas had been left as they were when it closed.

We found our own self guided trip round the prison very interesting. However, the whole visit was marred by very noisy, badly behaved children whose parents seemed oblivious to their children’s behaviour. We began by having lunch in the cafe which was full of fairly large groups of very young children, many of whom were toddlers. The adults in charge made no attempt to keep them quiet, stop them running to other tables and did nothing to encourage half decent table manners. Once we moved to visits the prison itself, we were shocked by the behaviour of many children, but especially of one particular family. In the execution room, the children were throwing things down the drop while the parents looked on and did nothing. Further on, one tour guide called the family out and told the parents to keep the children quiet as he was trying to explain things to his tour group. In some of the rooms we couldn’t get to read some of the information boards because of the unpleasant noise, so much so that we couldn’t bear it and left the rooms. Many of the children were just too young to understand what the prison is all about, so maybe the organisers could point this out to potential visitors. It would have been very helpful if more staff could be around to manage behaviour. Maybe we just came on an exceptionally busy day, but overall the visit was a disappointment and not worth the £71 we paid. We appreciate that the staff are not responsible for the children’s behaviour, but steps could be taken to manage it eg ask the parents to manage their children, or ask them to leave.

Stopped by Shrewsbury Prison at the end of the day just for a quick look, but wow—Malcolm made the whole visit amazing! We ended up chatting with him, and he gave us what felt like our own private 1:1 tour of most of the prison. Such a great place to go, full of history, and Malcolm really brings it to life. Totally recommend asking for him if you go—you won’t regret it!

Brought self guided tour, told us we could walk around and go into anywhere that allowed us. One of the tour guides was talking and we walked into the room and got told to leave very rudely, causing us to miss a lot of the rooms. Very unhappy with experience, spent the entire time wondering where to go as was going in circles due to where the tour guide prevented us from going. Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience. The lady at the front desk was a pleasure to talk to though, very helpful and kind.

Eye opening experience. Very atmospheric. Huge thank you. To staff Sarah and Sharon for their time and sharing their knowledge.

Excellent spent over 3hrs there, restaurant was good and staff very helpful.

Very nice greeting and interesting info from the Christmas elf! Fair price. Very interesting and informative trip overall.

Alright, learnt a lot, lots to see but quite run down (peeling wallpaper etc). I know this damage was probably from when it was an actual prison but felt a bit neglected. Prefer other prison attractions in the UK.

A really good experience, getting to see and feel what it is like if you are naughty. To see how things changed over the year, Georgian to Victorian to 2013 when it closed and said goodbye to its last prisoner. The history around the death penalty was interesting with seeing the gallows room and learning about the earlier public executions. Was worthwhile visiting this recommended attraction.

Highly recommend great value day out, pleased to see a historical building being used rather than being left empty and derelict. Loved that you can walk around independently at your own pace taking photos of everything, loads of information boards explaining the history. Staff all very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, Sharon was just great who we met at the admission entrance. Enjoyed hearing more about the history and stories behind the prison from her. Had tea and homemade cake in the cafe again couldn’t fault anything - really enjoyed a different day out - thanks again to Sharon.

This experience is a must do when visiting Shrewsbury. We spent just over 2 hours exploring the prison and felt the whole thing was great value.

Personally speaking. I found the £15 entrance fee to wander around a prison with no guide for an hour excessive. To my knowledge, there are no concessions either. Apparently, visiting with a tour guide is priced at £20. £5 to visit alone and £12.50 - £15 for a visit with a tour guide is a much fairer price.

Well worth a visit A place you would not want to stay in Definitely stop people commenting crimes If they were sent there now Nice to see its kept to its original standards Parking 5.00 Found it rather eire Had a snack in restaurant average price