OLD PUBS & GOOD FOOD
Listed North to South
THE OLD SAILORS, PWLLGWAELOD
Nestled in the little hamlet of Pwllgwaelod is this traditional red and white beach side pub, The Old Sailors. Here we started and finished our walk around Dinas Island. This is the only building by the beach and has seen over 400 years of use, previously known to be a smuggling den. It supposedly dates from 1593 and was formerly called The Sailors Safety, the name referring to the light it once kept burning as a guide to ships.
Now a small bar and restaurant, its interior retains some character with an old open fire, perfect for warming up by after a breezy walk along the cliff tops. The main draw is its position and walled garden outside with tables overlooking the beach and out to sea.
BESSIE’S PUB, PONTFAEN
Hidden in the thick wooded Gwaun valley with its bubbling stream and waterfalls, you can find this local gem, lost in time. Technically it is called the Dyffryn Arms but is known affectionately as Bessie’s, named after its legendary landlady Mrs Bessie Davies. At 88 she still comes down to serve and chat with visitors and we were lucky enough to have the pleasure of Bessie’s company while we were there.
Bessie’s sits in a tranquil spot, alone on the side of a quiet lane with a lovely garden and views over the fields and across to the Preseli Hills. Two locals, a farmer and old seafarer greeted us outside with a friendly dog. We spent a good hour chatting with them and Bessie inside and I could have easily stayed all evening if we didn’t have our campsite to find afterwards.
The pub occupies the small front room of Bessie’s old farmhouse. She told us it has been run as a pub by her family since 1845. Bessie herself has been in charge for well over a third of that time and the interior hasn’t been touched since. A basic little 1930’s parlour with a red and black quarry tile floor, stone fireplace with wood burner, faded floral curtains and plain old mismatch furniture. The walls showcase faded sepia photos, prints and posters from the First World War, a young portrait of the queen, collection of various bank notes and a dartboard.
Don't expect luxury, food, or a wide range of alcohol and don’t ask for lager! With a serving hatch to the tiny cellar where the barrels are racked, either real ale or cider is served straight from the barrel by jug, with packets of nuts and pork scratching’s available to snack on. Ring the bell at the side of the hatch if no one is around and either Bessie or a member of her family comes down to serve you.
Bessie is a true character, warm and witty with countless stories to tell in her wonderful thick Welsh accent. She recommended us walking up a steep single track behind her house for views to Dinas head, and even offered her daughters field for us to camp in during our next visit. She also told us that they often sell local duck eggs from the pub and that its open more or less all day, as someone is generally always in.
Bessie’s pub is what I imagine rural pubs were once like, now a rare find. Unchanged, simple, cosy and utterly charming. It is certainly up there as one of my very favourites and others must agree, as its been voted higher on the list of places to visit in Wales than Saint David’s cathedral. Go now while you can!
TAFARN SINC, ROSEBUSH
Tafarn Sinc lies in the remote Preseli village of Rosebush and is the highest licensed premises in Pembrokeshire. The red tin ‘shed’ exterior and mountainous backdrop certainly doesn’t give the impression that its only 11 miles from the A40. When a railway opened here in 1876, the pub was built from timber and covered in corrugated zinc sheets. Sitting alongside the old railway station, part of the platform can still be seen from the beer garden. The building was originally intended to be a hotel when a local entrepreneur attempted to promote the village as a health resort. This was unsuccessful and so it became a local for the quarrymen that lived and worked in Rosebush.
In the late 1940s the War Office wanted to take over this picturesque part of Pembrokeshire to turn it into a training area for the army. Luckily local people made a stand and put a stop to the plans. Seventy years on this spirit remains, showcased when its owners retired and the pub went up for sale in the 2010s. Nobody was able to put in a serious offer, mainly because it needed lot of repairs and being made of tin, was considered unmortgageable. In 2017 the local community once again saved the site from private development and raised the money needed to keep it open. It now has over 200 owners and has undergone extensive work without losing any of its character. Having featured prominently in the historic and social life of the area, the pub’s success is due to its atmosphere, saved by this phenomenal effort of the community.
Filled with local music, food and ales, there is a strong sense of tradition, authenticity and pride. There is even a sign on the bar asking visitors to start every conversation in Welsh and an area reserved for locals only. We were however made to feel very welcome, helped by the blazing log burner and laid back charm of the place, complete with sawdust on the floor. You are greeted by an eclectic collection of bric-a-brac hanging from the ceiling and walls. The likes of old photos, salvage, artefacts and memorabilia from the areas mining, railway and farming past, local sports trophies and team photos, old oil lamps, bunches of dried wheat and even flitches of bacon hanging from the ceiling.
If you’ve been walking in the Preselis and taking in Neolithic sites of the area, for a swim in Rosebush quarry, or you’re just looking for some locally sourced food or a drink, this institution is at the heart of the community and truly worth a visit. Oozing old world charm and an atmosphere of days gone by, it must be one of the only ‘tin shed' pubs in the country.
PANT MAWR FARMHOUSE CHEESE SHOP, ROSEBUSH
Across the road from Tafarn Sinc and down a small track is a traditional welsh hill farm in the foothills of the mountains. Originally the home of the owner of the Rosebush slate quarry, it was built in 1872 from local slate and housed a general store where the quarry workers bought supplies. In later years this became a Victorian post office and today is both a post office and farm shop, selling the farm’s award winning cheeses.
Pant Mawr Farmhouse Cheeses is a real family run business. The range of traditional hand-made cheeses has been developed with self-taught skills, using locally produced cow’s and goat’s milk. Being a working live-on farm, the shop is open most of the time and occupies a little outbuilding with a tin roof and rusty old bathtub filled with flowers outside the door. Inside, one half of the room is what you would expect of a simple post office kiosk. The other, a quaint little counter, topped with a mini fridge full of cheese alongside a small display of other local produce.
The family were warm, friendly and helpful, especially the two young grandchildren who suggested their favourites. We had a taste of all seven cheeses but there was no pressure to buy any. Regardless we ended up leaving with a large selection, along with some tasty local honey and chutney. The cheeses are fantastic and great value for money compared to most artisan cheese shops. The Mature Caws Cerwyn was particularly delicious. If you like rustic, rural and genuine with no frills, and if you are into your cheese then definitely stop in. The shop also supplies firewood, perfect if camping nearby.
THE SLOOP , PORTHGAIN
Originally built for the slate workers of Porthgain in the 18th century, The Sloop overlooks the pretty houses and village green. In the early twentieth century Porthgain was an industrial port quarrying slate, granite and exporting bricks. Remains of these industries provide a dramatic backdrop to the harbour, where now only a few fishing boats launch from the slipway. At one point the harbour would have extended right up to The Sloop, with boats mooring alongside it. Their crews could step from the boats and straight into the pub, then known as The Step Inn. Nowadays it has become a popular refreshment stop for those walking the coastal path.
The building itself is unassuming with a white-washed exterior. Facing west, the outdoor seating makes the most of any sunshine. Inside the décor points somewhat to a boat’s interior with wooden panels and nautical memorabilia hanging from the ceiling. On the walls there are photographs and information on local history and nearby shipwrecks, including a collection of name plates of boats that used to work the harbour. The Sloop underwent renovations in the 1990s and the extensions are very much catered to families and tourism but the main bar is original and keeps hold of its character.
Food is served at lunchtime and in the evenings, with seasonal fresh fish, crab and local lobster available on the menu. They managed to fit us in on a busy night and we had a good hearty meal here. The Sloop really had a welcoming feel to it with walkers, fishermen and village cricketers alike drinking in the bar.
THE SHED, PORTHGAIN
Even closer to Porthgain’s harbour is The Shed, sitting next door to the large industrial building where bricks were made right on the harbour front. Once the machine shop for the engines that operated the brick works, it is now a quayside restaurant.
The Shed is a relaxed bistro making the most of locally caught fish, landed daily and served within hours. They are popular for fish and chips and favourite daily specials featuring whatever the owners or their friends have caught that morning. I would recommend booking in advance but they also do takeaways if you can’t grab a table.
A small area of outdoor seating provides a lovely spot to eat in the sun but we cosied up indoors to shelter from the weather that day. Inside is very quaint; an informal angular dining room with tables arranged along a narrow space, covered with red and white checked tablecloths and looking straight out to sea. Watching the wild weather we tucked into the freshest fish, cooked in light batter and served with hand-cut chips hewn from local potatoes. A picture-postcard quayside spot and one of the best portions of fish and chips that I have tasted.
DRUIDSTONE HOTEL PUB AND RESTAURANT, HAVERFORDWEST
While driving to our campsite in south Pembrokeshire we called in at The Druidstone for a quick drink. After seeing the place I would love to return and stay. It seemed idyllic; a rambling old hotel with a unique and informal atmosphere, standing proudly in a grand spot overlooking the sweeping sandy Druidston Beach, just a ten-minute walk away.
The Druidstone has been a family-run operation for decades with a loyal following of guests returning year after year. It is a family favourite for weekend and beachside escapes, with 11 guest rooms, an upstairs restaurant and cosy downstairs pub. They are also five separate self-catering options including an eco-cottage roundhouse.
Walking through the hotel we instantly picked up on the relaxed and bohemian way about the place, set off by friendly staff and cheerful avant garde décor. We spotted local art on the walls of the sitting room and a cork-walled, wood-floored dining room. The restaurant has a reputation for inventive cooking using fresh organic ingredients and hosting themed feast evenings. And what a wonderful setting for a feast, with big windows to take in sunsets over the Atlantic.
The cellar bar felt like a village pub, with local ale tapped from the cask, a dog sat by the bar, slate floor, thick stone walls, a darts board, church-style pews, old wooden furniture and candles lit in wine bottles. Doors lead out to a terrace with picnic tables and those priceless views. We were also told by the barman that they regularly hold folk nights and live music events here.
And then there’s the garden. It’s always a garden that grabs me and even through the cloak of mist and drizzle that day this one certainly did. High-stone, ivy-clad walls shelter it from the sea, with wooden gates set into archways that frame the ocean vista when opened. Beautiful flowers grow in the borders that staff pick to decorate the restaurant tables, along with herbs and vegetables from a couple of nursery beds to use in the kitchen. It has a real ‘secret garden’ feel, complete with a tucked-away tree house. There are many other hidden nooks to find; perfect perches to settle down and delve into a good book. Past a greenhouse and potting shed the back of the garden merges into the coastal path, where wild exotic flowers grow. Against the outside solid boundary wall leans a small stone and wooden hut looking directly out to sea. An atmospheric little corner with a small plaque reading ‘Jane’s Place’. Jane was the former owner of the hotel who inspired it to become the arts hub that it is today. This little outbuilding was her favourite place to retreat and she often slept here.
The Druidstone’s informality and well-worn look won't necessarily suit everyone but for me it was utterly charming. A hotel that feels like a family home, slightly rough around the edges but where character is prioritised over on-trend design. The location is unbeatable and the whole setup lends itself to the pages of a novel; A weather beaten Georgian hotel with dizzying views from the ragged cliff tops and down to the breaking waves below.
THE OLD POINT HOUSE, ANGLE
The Old Point House is a farmhouse pub dating back to the 15th century. Very much off the beaten track, look for a turning into Angle village, drive past the church and skirt the foreshore until you reach it near the water’s edge. Being so close to the sea it’s known for getting cut off by spring tides three or four times a year. When we arrived the small car park was full, so we followed other cars and pulled in alongside moored boats on the stony, sheltered anchorage.
The pub sits on a headland and beside the coastal path, with views overlooking Angle Bay. It also looks out across the water to a refinery, which surprisingly doesn’t spoil the atmosphere. It’s very easy to ignore it looming in the distance and imagine what it was like when pirates drank here hundreds of years ago. This ancient beer house was renowned as the haunt of pirates and smugglers, often giving sanctuary to men on the run from the law.
Originally a small local, the Grade II-listed building has been extended over the years. We didn’t think much of the carpeted extension area and dining room inside, but the small front room is a wonderfully rustic snug with an uneven flagstone floor. Original wooden perches are clustered around the ancient fireplace, with its roaring open fire that staff encourage visitors to pop their own corn on and roast chestnuts over. Amazingly for over 300 years a culm fire (a mixture of coal dust and clay) was kept burning continuously in the grate, providing warmth for lifeboat men, mariners, farmers and villagers alike.
Part built from shipwreck timbers, The Old Point House was originally a bakehouse for ships biscuits. Known as ‘the lifeboatmen's local’, it has a long association with the RNLI station, which was built in 1868 and is only a short walk around the headland. These maritime links extend to the press cuttings and old photographs that decorate the pub’s walls. There are even charts on display that show the navigation channels used to guide sailors home.
The Old Point House felt like a proper local, serving good Welsh ale and cider. You can’t really fault the location and history, but the food looked somewhat basic. Despite being a little run down in parts, it is a quaint place for a pint, with picnic benches on the grass and views across the water to enjoy, surrounded by windswept walks that pass the front door.
CAFÉ MÔR, FRESHWATER WEST
The road cuts between Freshwater West’s tall sand dunes before you find Café Môr, a mobile café based at the edge of the beach car park. Freshwater West is a well-known sandy surfing beach with an array of campervans and mobile homes parked up on the cliff top overlooking the waves rolling in to shore. Next to them is a blue, white and yellow boat-shaped food van, often with a well-deserved queue outside. 'Môr' means 'sea' in Welsh, and Café Môr is certainly a seafood lover’s heaven. They cook with responsibly sourced and locally foraged food, are the first dedicated seaweed takeaway in the world and one of just a few mobile food outlets in the UK to be powered by solar and wind energy.
Café Môr was set up by Jonathan Williams, who realised that he was pining for the Welsh coast where he'd grown up while working a 9-5 desk job. Jonathan decided to focus on his passions for the sea and food, initially cutting his hours down to start up a Saturday stall outside a farm shop, selling the likes of local crab, sushi and seaweed flatbreads. He then went on to quit his job and establish the award-winning Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, at the heart of which lies Café Môr.
The café prides itself on celebrating traditional dishes including their Welsh breakfast: a combination of cockles, bacon and laverbread – an old delicacy in Wales of cooked seaweed. Another favourite (ours included!) is the lobster rolls, served with Welsh seaweed butter and seaweed ketchup. Many dishes on the menu are made using seaweed foraged from the beach below. It is a truly fitting location, with Freshwater West boasting the last remaining seaweed drying hut, a reminder of the booming laver trade here in the 19th century. Up until the 50s, female foragers would have worked all hours of the day collecting seaweed and drying it on the sandy floor of one of twenty thatched wooden huts that were along the beach. Once dried, it would have been shipped off around the rest of Wales to be turned into traditional Welsh laverbread.
I will put it out there and say that Café Môr is the best street-food outlet I’ve come across. The lobster and crab rolls were our favourite meals of the trip, in fact some of the best seafood I’ve tasted. It is well worth travelling here just to sample the fresh marine-inspired delights alone. There are other things to try too, including veggie options, cakes, hot drinks and even seaweed brownies. Café Môr really offers excellent food at a good price and served by passionate people. Rustic fine dining with views to equal the food. Not to be missed!
BOATHOUSE TEA ROOM, STACKPOLE QUAY
We came across Stackpole Quay after spending an afternoon at the beautiful Barafundle Bay, a 15-minute walk away. The Boathouse Tea Room is a National Trust café sat in a shady area between the car park and Pembrokeshire's smallest harbour. Nestled in amongst the limestone cliffs, the harbour is a favourite for kayakers to set off from, explore many nearby caves and study the surrounding rock formations. At high tide you can jump from the harbour arm into the water and at low tide a pebble beach is revealed. A few steps away, the tearoom serves all the light-lunch classics; jacket potatoes, ploughman’s, homemade soup, panini’s, cream teas and local ice cream. There are plenty of tables and chairs to choose from in the courtyard, but we decided to settle down on the wall overlooking the little quay. It’s a wonderful place to watch the sea gently lapping against the stony shore and the perfect spot for refreshments after a hot afternoon on the beach or spent exploring the rest of the Stackpole Estate.
THE STACKPOLE INN, STACKPOLE
This is another good place to find yourself after an amble around Stackpole, Bosherston lily ponds or along the coast around Broadhaven South and Barafundle Bay, all of which are a walk or short drive away. A few miles back from the sea, this 18th century building was converted in the 1980s from the village post office and adjoining cottages. The Stackpole’s immediate surroundings are nothing special but the exterior is very pretty, with low-slung grey walls, covered in creepers, honeysuckle and topped with a slate roof. Inside there are low ceilings, beams, exposed stone walls and a wood-burning stove. It has all the right ingredients, however you can somehow tell that is a relatively recent conversion, the décor lacking real rustic authenticity. That being said, it had a snug, relaxed and friendly atmosphere around the bar, and set back from the road, the sloping-lawned front garden and picnic benches make for a lovely spot to enjoy lunch or dinner washed down with a local Welsh ale.
The Stackpole Inn manages to pull off the trick of being both a village local (complete with its own choir) and a destination food pub, popular with fishermen and walkers. The menu was full of pub-crowd pleasers, along with a large daily specials board that featured many locally caught fish dishes, including lobster and crab claws. We made our last stop here and had a delicious final fish supper in Pembrokeshire before reluctantly getting in the car and heading back to London.