The Crown, Tenby

A traditional pub just around the corner from the from the main tourist route, it consists of a single room bar and a (very) small courtyard garden at the rear. It’s a fairly long and narrow pub split in to two halves with carpet at the front and sanded wooden boards at the rear. Exposed walling ran up both sides, apparently brick on one side and stone on the other. A couple of plasma were showing a sports channel, but the volume was low so this was not too intrusive. Seating was mostly small bar stools with blue velvet upholstery, although a couple of old beer barrels had also been pressed in to service as stools. Beers on tap were Abbott Ale, Rev James and Brain’s IPA, whilst a fourth pump appeared unused. A new landlord, who seemed like a friendly chap, was in the process of moving in while we were there, so I suppose this may well change in the near future. Ciders meanwhile were Scrumpy Jack and Strongbow.

The owner of the B&B I was staying in recommended the Crown as the best place for Real Ales in Tenby as he said the landlord keeps a varied changing guest ale policy and always has something different to the usual Welsh local beer offerings. So with a recommendation like that I just had to visit, especially as it was just inside the medieval Norman Castle walls and the closest pub to our B&B location on the esplanade. The Crown is a bit more of a locals back street pub compared to some of the others nearer the tourist centre of Tenby. It’s a one room pub with a fairly plain decor with a decent size area for vertical drinking in front of the bar and plenty of wooden seating at either end of the room. One large screen for the sport, and then there is an additional couple of bench tables for drinking outside. The bar supports six hand pumps and as it is a Brains house , these include the house ales of Brains SA and Reverend James. And it would be just my luck to visit on a week when two of the guest ales were GK Abbott and Old Speckled Hen, which for a Londoner are about as exciting as getting hit round the head with a wet Halibut. In fairness the other two were Hopback Summer Lightning (unfortunately already finished) and Addlestones Cider. So I actually stuck to the Brains beers during our couple of visits and they were very well kept pints. So, although the Hope and Anchor actually had a better beer choice for me personally during our stay in Tenby, I would still strongly recommend a visit to the Crown, as any Landlord that keeps a varied range of guest beers should be supported, and I hope you have a little bit better luck with the choice on offer.