The Three Horseshoes, Brecon

This is a basic village local in a side street - if it's a crossroads, as the name implies, why does this road go nowhere? - with an incredibly ugly smokers umbrella stuck in the front yard. It's a fairly ordinary looking house, but a flat-roofed extension has been built on the side at some time, and this forms the dining room. The main room, around the bar, has had half of the walls stripped of plaster, revealing the original stonework, and there's a solid fuel stove in the corner. There are some fairly rough pub tables in this part, and it's quite a pleasant place for a beer of an evening. At least it was until, about 8.30, the lights were suddenly turned off, leaving a glimmer from the type of small ceiling-set bulbs that are used for emergency lighting when there's been a power cut. I was reading my paper at the time, and some others were studying their OS map in preparation for the next day's walk, so I asked for the lights to be restored, which they grudgingly were. A bit of friendly banter ensued with some locals sat by the bar, who were clearly equally resistant to the place being plunged into darkness, but who had presumably given up complaining about it. I don't know what supposed enhancement of the atmosphere and associated increase in beer sales the landlady hoped to achieve by this move, but suffice to say that on my departure from the pub an hour later it was promptly plunged into darkness again. On the bar, four hand pumps were available with a local cider and three ales: St Austell Tribute, a golden ale from Wharfeside brewery and a beer called Cwrw from Evan Evans. As cwrw is the Welsh word for beer, I guess this is some sort of linguistic joke name, to see how many foreigners come to the bar and ask for "a pint of beer".

The Three Horseshoes official site with menu and event details - www.threehorseshoesgroesffordd.co.uk

The Three Horseshoes official site with menu and event details - www.threehorseshoesgroesffordd.co.uk