The Laugharne Pub Crawl

The Boat House

Laugharne has a population of under a thousand people, but has six pubs which is well up on the national average.

We began our crawl at the bottom end of town at The Boat House Inn and Brassiere - a fancy joint that boasts four Welsh Tourist stars! We couldn't be bothered with the smart bit of the pub so went in the small bar on the right. We drank a couple of pints of Felinfoel and met wine importer Keith Davies who was quite entertaining but didn't manage to sell us any wine though.

The Fountain Inn

Heading up town on the left we came to a small square with two pubs. First up was the Cross Hands Inn, with front beer garden, pool table and young football crowd.

Opposite is the newly refurbished Fountain Inn, which doubles as Laugharne rugby club. This place had a couple of smart barmaids and an interesting collection of rugby shirts above the bar; including the Welsh deaf and Civil Service teams, plus a lone English Moseley shirt? Why?

The Studio Tavern

Heading back up town, past a fine castle with £2.75 entry (we didn't go in as this is the price of a pint and a half after all), we reached the Studio Restaurant. This place is home to a multitude of activities, including glass-blowing and a silver workshop. More importantly it has a well-decent square-shaped bar and a top-notch landlady who gave us a couple of free drinks, bless her.

Further up the road is Laugharne's trendiest establishment, the new Three Mariners. This has a loud jukebox, open fire-place, white tables and chairs and naval photos all over the place. Once again it plays host to a couple of smart barmaids.

Browns Hotel

Last up is our pub of the month - Browns Hotel. This is a pub of real character which probably hasn't changed much since famous Welsh poet Dylan Thomas used to drink here many moons ago. We got chatting to Bleddyn, an old codger who said he'd known Dylan quite well. He was nothing more than a bore, a bad poet and a drunk as far as he was concerned. Judging by one of the photos of Dylan's wife on the wall, we didn't blame the poor bloke for getting constantly smashed.

Pub of the month - Browns Hotel - 8 leeks out of 10

Crawl Score - 8 leeks out of 10