Prince Llewelyn Hotel, Caernarfon

This Robinson's pub is set on the North side of the river bridge in the centre of Beddgelert. It is well recorded that the "legend" of the dog described below is known to have been created by the owner of the Goat Hotel over two hundred years ago along with the supposed grave of the pooch. Last time I was here the left wall was dominated by foxhunting scenes and bric-a-brac but thankfully all that propaganda has gone. It remains a small rectangular room as described below but is the more pub like of the three local Robinson pubs. There were four hand pumps with two unused leaving a choice of Trooper or Trooper Light Brigade. I went for the Trooper (£3.70) which was in reasonable nick. This is probably my favourite of the three Beddgelert houses but is still fairly average.

Named after the 13th Century Prince of North Wales who, according to legend, mistakenly thought that his dog (named Gelert) had killed his infant son so he plunged his sword into the dog only to hear his infant’s cry and then discover that Gelert had saved the child from a wolf. The place where the dog was buried is called Beddgelert (or Gelert’s Grave). The pub has a neon sign in the window saying ‘Hotel’. As is the norm in this part of the world, pubs offer accommodation as well so they are what we would have called inns in time gone by – the distinction between pub with accommodation and a hotel with a bar can be quite a fine one. The bar is a single room with avocado green upholstered benches, blue/green carpet and a slate arch over the bar. There is a smaller annex off the main room with stone pillars either side. No background music was playing but there was a flat screen TV showing Crimewatch. The ceiling was painted white and there were 2 wooden beams (presumably for decorative effect). There was stone fireplace with an electric stove fire standing on it and a fish tank to the side. The place looked dated in style (1970s appearance) but none of the furniture looked like it was suffering from wear and tear. This was the quietest of all the places I went in one my one-night tour of Beddgelert (except for my brief visit to the Bryn Eglwys Hotel which isn’t listed on this site and I don’t propose to add it either as I walked in to the bar there and there were no customers, no staff and no real ale so I walked straight back out again). A Robinson’s pub so the cask ales were Golden Dragon (Cwrw'r ddraig aur), Unicorn and Double Hop. On tap there was Carlsberg, Carling, Guinness and Brains Dark. The Unicorn was hoppy and left a lingering bitter aftertaste but it was fine.