Y Dic Penderyn (JD Wetherspoon), Merthyr Tydfil

Fairly plain and scruffy Spoons though quite bright due to the concertina windows that were optimistically fully-opened on a cool and grey Saturday morning. Two guest ales with nothing local, my Marstons EPA was fair (NBSS 3). In a town with seemingly only one other option for cask types, this one’s a default. 5.5

Dic Penderyn was the Welsh name of a bloke called Richard Lewis who was made a scapegoat and executed after the famous 1831 Merthyr Rising (which I'd never heard of). This one looks like a shop conversion and isn't one of their larger outlets. It has an upstairs area that I didn't look into. The downstairs area is roughly square with a fair bit of dark wood and the usual sort of fixtures and fittings. I've heard plenty of negative things about Merthyr but on my Wednesday afternoon visit it seemed like any other small town with mostly older folk out and about. There was no obvious sign of a raucous Daytime Brigade here, in fact most seemed to be shoppers. The bar has ten hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom doubled, Glamorgan Jemmas Pitchfork & Try Time, Goddards Duck's Folly and Brecon Daffodil. I went for the Daffodil (£2.15) which was in good nick. I thought this was a reasonable enough Spoons.

Official page of Y Dic Penderyn - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Official page of Y Dic Penderyn - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk