Celebrating 500 ales in just three years! Inside one of Warwick's smallest and most-loved pubs

The Eagle, which is in The Holloway, was opened on April 22, 2022, by husband and wife team Rachel Silverthorne and Tim Maccabee who decided to completely change careers because of a love of beer.

In 2023, the pair also went on to take over the Old Post Office pub in West Street after the previous owners decided to take a step back from the pub after 10 years at the helm.

The couple said that one of the main motivators for creating The Eagle was to change the way most of the industry operate and that required the freedom of a non-brewery tied operation.

It has been highly successful and the pub quickly gained a reputation for offering a diverse selection of beers.

The Eagle was been named in the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide for 2025 and previously in the 2024 edition – and was also named as a runner up in the local Pub of the Year competition in 2024.

"Though we offer a full range of drinks, my passion is cask ale and so we set out with a policy of continuous change" said Tim, explaining the pub ethos.

While most pubs have a core range of regular beers and then may have one or two rotating guest taps, The Eagle has turned this practice largely on it's head, having no constant cask ale offering – changing to a new beer for nearly every barrel.

Tim said: "Logging every beer I was almost surprised to realise that we are fast approaching our 500th unique ale.

"Some people are quite surprised to see a new line up every time they visit, but now that people are used to it, they've mostly embraced the variety on offer – especially those who make their own habit of seeking out new beers to try.”

“Although we've sourced beers from as far apart as Orkney (Orkney Brewery) and Cornwall (Verdant Brewing Co), our offering regularly features much more local breweries such as Warwick-based Slaughterhouse Brewery and Birmingham based Attic Brew Co.

"We also repeat some of our more popular beers to make sure that we have as good a set of beers as possible.”

To celebrate the 500th beer, The Eagle have teamed up with the North Cotswold Brewery based at Stretton-on-Fosse.

Tim added: "North Cotswold are our most frequently offered beer supplier and when we contacted them about our milestone, they noticed that we hadn't yet featured one of their most distinguished beers – so that will be beer number 500."

The celebration for the milestone will take place on Wednesday March 19 at 7.30pm and will be attended by The Warwick Court Leet including a traditional ceremony of approval from the Court Leet Juror Ale Taster Simon Garwood and Lord of the Leet and Mayor of Warwick, Cllr David Skinner.

Members of CAMRA and staff from the North Cotswold Brewery will also be attending.