Slaters Arms / Tafarn Y Chwarelwyr, Machynlleth

I've been to Corris a couple of times, but due to bad planning had never found the pub open. Made a special effort this time, staying at a camp site down the valley. The front room is as described below, with high tables challenging my climbing ability. The back room has tables with cutlery laid out. There's a small room with easy chairs on the way to the toilet. It feels a little like a micropub, or maybe micropubs are like small village locals like this one. A small counter on the left on entering, opposite the large fireplace with solid fuel burner, has three hand pumps, and three boxed polypin ciders are also advertised. I went for halves of the two beers from Cwrw Llŷn: Brenin Enlli and Porth Neigwl, both of which I have drunk before, and these were as good as any but not brilliant (NBSS 3.5, £5 for the pair). This is a worthy GBG entry and I'm glad to have scratched the itch.

Official site of Slaters Arms / Tafarn Y Chwarelwyr - www.slatersarmscorris.co.uk

Official site of Slaters Arms / Tafarn Y Chwarelwyr - www.slatersarmscorris.co.uk

After a few bog-standard pubs and some unexpected closures, the long drive to Corris and arrival at the Slaters Arms restored the faith in my hobby of visiting pubs. It is situated in the well-hidden village centre of Corris with its steep, narrow lanes and well away from the tourist hotspots on the main road. Customers were all blokes, with the solitary women being the landlady/barmaid. She was chatting with another man in the corner, possibly the landlord. The two rooms mentioned by Quinno below had tables all with numbers on them for food ordering. However, all customers in the front bar were drinking only, with the room at the rear unused. I have heard that food here is good though. Even better for me was the drinks selection. I was spoiled for choice. The 3 ales on were Wye Valley HPA, Wilderness Biere Ordinaire & Evan Evans Hop Picker. At the far side of the bar and where there was another room I didn't visit, were another couple of handpulls with real ciders from Rosie's - Continental & Wicked Wasp. Well worth a visit and seemingly popular with the local CAMRA people. I even managed to pick up a copy of their Cwrw Ceredigion magazine to study at my leisure.

Unusual place, not much in the way of external signage and a fairly schizophrenic interior – a tight, dark main room with bits of coloured lighting and some high tables with a sparse bench-laden room to the rear with a large painting of the local mountains as the centrepiece. Three cask on the go; Clun Pale Ale (NBSS 4), Big Bog Hinkypunk (3) and Strawberry Fields Lucy (2.5) plus a range of ciders, served-up by an old-skool barman, who was quite friendly after he’d warmed-up a bit. Busy on a late Sunday afternoon visit, so clearly popular with the locals and the Clun was ticking-over nicely. So yeah, a bit off-beat compared to what you’d expect but the ale was generally good and the atmosphere enjoyable, so worth your effort to detour.