George & Dragon, Beaumaris

Another one of the many Robinson pubs on the Isle of Anglesey. 5 beers on including Trooper, Unicorn, Dizzy Blonde and Cumbria Way. I tried the latter and it was fine. Worth a visit.

Official site of George & Dragon - www.robinsonsbrewery.com

Official site of George & Dragon - www.robinsonsbrewery.com

In the centre of Beaumaris, just off the main drag through town is The George and Dragon. Outside, we learn that we are about to enter what is, allegedly, one of the oldest inns in Wales, dating back to 1410. We’re also told that 2 of Oliver Cromwell’s men were court-martialled for being drunk in this inn. Inside, the date of 1410 is called into question where a framed print on the wall tells us that “architectural details suggest a date in the more settled prosperous days of Queen Elizabeth 1st. It certainly doesn’t really have the look and feel of a 15th century inn. It’s a long single room with the bar counter parallel to the street and what looks like several originally different rooms knocked through to create a number of similar adjoining areas. The traditional interior features black ceiling and wall beams, circular copper topped tables, carpets, horse brasses, largwe copper plates and red circular velour covered bar stools. It’s a pleasant enough interior, but with something of a rather samey old style country pub feel to it. A largish TV screen above a fine fireplace at the far end was showing recorded football highlights. On my mid September Saturday evening visit, the customer base consisted largely of people in their 40/50’s rather than the usual Saturday night psychos that one might have expected. Like so many pubs in Anglesey ( why is this, I wonder ?), it’s a Robinsons pub which was serving Dizzy Blonde, Green Bullet and Hartleys XB. Shiny large tall chrome fonts offered keg Dark and Smooth. Green Bullet is a seasonal beer brewed using New Zealand hops and I thought it was a pleasant, if unspectacular pint. There didn’t seem to be a lot of real ale trade. I thought this was a rather average pub at the end of the day, but, if you’re staying in Beaumaris, as I was, you might want to look in