CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

MID WALES - Llanidloes, Crown & Anchor

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One

41 Long Bridge Street, Llanidloes, SY18 6EF

Tel: 01686 412398

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

This 17th-century unspoilt town pub consists of five small rooms, one of which was a haberdashery shop until c.1948. It has been in the same family for over 100 years and present licensee Ruby Holmes has been running it since 1965. If you ask Ruby what food she sells she will reply "We're just a boozer"! A corridor with half-height panelling divides the two sides of the pub. The tiny snug on the middle right is the original public bar and retains a c.100 year old bar counter (the top was replaced in the 1980s), old bar back shelving with a mirrored backing, and basic bench seating attached to the partition wall. Note the old cemented-on lettering on the glazed screen around the snug. There is a fine mirror advertising 'Ind Coope Burton Ales'. The ribbed hardboard dado panelling was probably added in the 1950s. Note the ledge used as a seat when busy - however the locals now call it the 'Suicide Seat' following two customers who regularly sat there committing suicide later in their lives! Note the old tiny hatch for service in the timber and glass screen around the rear right 'TV Room'. The screen on the passageway side still has a tiny window to let the smoke out (the room had a 1950s tiled fireplace until the 1970s) and old 'Truman's Burton Ales' mirror, but the panelling and seating in this room are modern. The rear left room with '2' on the hatch door still retains old panelling with simple bench seating attached. It also has a tiny sliding window in the glass and timber partition wall to let the smoke out and is home to a pool table. The front left small room has a distinctive 1950s tiled fireplace and modern fixed seating. The main bar has shelves on a ply-panelled wall added in 1948 but the present counter dates from the mid-1980s and the fireplace is modern.