The Bear Inn / From bear pits to ghost stories, a pub with nine lives
Wed Dec 24 2025
At the heart of the Shropshire village of Hodnet, The Bear Inn is the kind of pub that feels like it’s lived a thousand lives. With a history that includes bear pits, lingering ghost stories, and generations of local lore, it’s long been a place where stories are swapped as freely as pints.
In today’s episode, Molly sits down with Tom Heber-Percy to hear how he’s reimagined this much-loved village pub for a new era, honouring its rich past while creating a space that feels warm, welcoming, and alive once more. From the weight of history to the joy of bringing a community hub back to life, this conversation is a reminder of why pubs matter, and why their stories are worth preserving.
Head to Curated, the world's first travel platform powered by tastemakers with soul, style and story at its heart to discover and book a collection of soulful stays curated by tastemakers you trust https://curatedspaces.club/
Curated Spaces is the podcast on a mission to reignite real world connection.
What started as a project to share the stories behind spaces has snowballed into something a little bit bigger.
From founders sharing their stories of burnout and loneliness to the spaces leading the charge in rewilding and sustainable food production, Curated Spaces is about living life in full colour and connecting deeply with the spaces and faces around us.
https://www.instagram.com/curatedspacesclub/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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At the heart of the Shropshire village of Hodnet, The Bear Inn is the kind of pub that feels like it’s lived a thousand lives. With a history that includes bear pits, lingering ghost stories, and generations of local lore, it’s long been a place where stories are swapped as freely as pints. In today’s episode, Molly sits down with Tom Heber-Percy to hear how he’s reimagined this much-loved village pub for a new era, honouring its rich past while creating a space that feels warm, welcoming, and alive once more. From the weight of history to the joy of bringing a community hub back to life, this conversation is a reminder of why pubs matter, and why their stories are worth preserving. Head to Curated, the world's first travel platform powered by tastemakers with soul, style and story at its heart to discover and book a collection of soulful stays curated by tastemakers you trust https://curatedspaces.club/ Curated Spaces is the podcast on a mission to reignite real world connection. What started as a project to share the stories behind spaces has snowballed into something a little bit bigger. From founders sharing their stories of burnout and loneliness to the spaces leading the charge in rewilding and sustainable food production, Curated Spaces is about living life in full colour and connecting deeply with the spaces and faces around us. https://www.instagram.com/curatedspacesclub/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.