Skirrid Mountain Inn, Abergavenny

A pub of great age and a regular on the ghost shows. It's certainly atmospheric; the main bar has a wonkily flagged floor, jumbo fireplace, bare stone walls blackened with years of soot, beans and brasses. The lower servery is clearly more modern and jars - a bit of staining wouldn't go amiss. There's a small area off the side leading to an unused dining room which looked quite fancy. The gents, oddly, are very modern. There's a rear garden, past the infamous (if modern) noose at the foot of the stairs - WhatPub says that in excess of 180 people were hung here when it doubled as a courthouse. Now graces the GBG and there were two Wye Valley cask to choose from - HPA (NBSS 3) and Butty which was immense (NBSS 4.5) though grubby glasses let the side down. I ate here and whilst the food was fairly simple fayre, it was hearty and competitively priced. Worth the effort to go out and try.

This pub's name conjures up an image of a remote rural pub on a barren mountainside. It is in fact located not far off a main A road in a reasonable size village. Nevertheless, the interior is very impressive. You can certainly feel the history here. Service initially required a lengthy wait, as the barmaid/landlady was on a lengthy telephone call with a customer. Others were waiting to pay for their night's accommodation. Doom Bar & Butty Bach was the uninspiring real ale selection. Still worth seeing though.