Rorkes Drift, Brecon

Formerly known as the Wheatsheaf, this pub was renamed in honour of the famous defence of Rorke's Drift and the Welsh troops who served with B Company of the 24th Regiment (The 2nd Warwickshire) which held out against repeated Zulu attacks during 22/23 January 1879. In one way it is appropriate, due to the presence in Brecon of the Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh and their collection of 4 of the VC’s awarded during that action. But to be historically factually correct, only 32 of the 139 members of B Company who took part in the action were actually from Wales and although based in Brecon, B Company was recruited from all over the UK and did not become the South Wales Borderers until 1881. Anyway, enough of that and this small but welcoming town centre pub is now painted a pleasant white and sports an excellent pub sign depicting the action at Rorkes Drift which unfortunately I didn’t have my camera handy to photograph. Internally its one square space with the central serving bar in front of you as you enter and then some limited seating on both sides. Although difficult to know exactly how much as a lot of the seating had been removed to make space for the bands and DJ’s during the Fringe Festival there looked to be plenty of space for vertical drinking and a couple of the locals mentioned that it does get a bit lively on weekend evenings. But also now had a reputation for local Welsh ales and the bar supports three ale handpumps which had Tomos Watkins Chwarar Teg and then two from the Brecon Brewery just down the road in the shape of Twilight Beacons and Gold Beacons