CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

NORTH-EAST WALES - Ysceifiog, Fox

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One

Ysceifiog, Ysceifiog, CH8 8NJ

Tel: 01352 720241

Opening Hours: 6 (2 Sat, Sun) to 11; Closed Wed all day.

Draught Beer & Cider: Real ales

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

This two-storey late Georgian village pub with four small rooms is a splendid survivor being little altered since the 1930s. The slate-floored drinking lobby has a tiny hatch in the leaded screen around the servery, which would have also been the off-sales, and occasionally customers can be seen drinking here. A sliding door leads to the tiny front bar of the Fox, Ysceifiog, with an old counter, old panelling on the window side, a 1930s tiled fireplace with a coal fire and bare bench seating, including some attached to the front of the counter - something that may be unique in a pub anywhere. The intimate space means visitors are quickly drawn into conversation.

At the rear the lounge is served from a bar more like a hatch with its sliding window, now kept permanently open. This room retains fixed seating dating from the 1930s and a post-war fireplace. To the front right is the small snug with a cast-iron fireplace. Look for the number of the doors, a requirement of H M Customs and Excise to denote all the rooms in a public house used for the storage or sale of alcohol. There is a '4' on the door to the lounge; a '5' on the door to the rear right room, which has been in use as a dining room in the past; and '6' on the cellar door. The Fox retains a disused, but rarely seen, cask pump - a way of serving beer direct from a cask with the added benefit of serving it with a good 'head' - if not visible just ask to see it. Opens at 6pm Mon, Tue., Thu, and Fri; closed all day Wed; opens at 2pm on Sat., Sun