Victoria Inn, Bow Street

A smart two bar pub, with another room upstairs (the Atlantic Bar, according to the sign) with a balcony, and an outside seating area which adjoins the beach. The right hand bar was not open when I was here, though several customers, myself included, were sat there. The action was in the bar to the left, where a vociferous crowd were watching a Liverpool game in the Champions League on TV. As the game was impossible to ignore I took my beer to the other room, where it was peaceful enough until a group of young men took the adjacent table and I was forced to eavesdrop on their conversation, which put paid to my chances of finishing the Guardian crossword. There were three beers on, and numerous other hand pumps unclipped, though with the crowd at the bar I was unable to make any notes and only recorded that my beer was Mantle Moho, a pale ale brewed in Cardigan. This was the livelier of the two pubs I visited in the evening, having "done" the Railway in the afternoon; if I had come here first I would have been glad to escape to the quiet of the Friendship, but that's just me. Others will undoubtedly prefer the Victoria.

One of the key selling points of the Victoria Inn is its location backing onto the shingle beach at Borth. This it exploits with an outside area accessed from the left hand downstairs bar and an outside balcony accessed from the upstairs Atlantic bar which affords great views across the beach and any sunset, should you get one. Another is the beer choice which seems to have taken a turn for the better since Quinno’s last visit. It now has four ales and a cider on the five pumps on each bar, which is better than most of the Welsh seaside pubs we encountered. Granted two of these were Sharps Doombar and Atlantic which are ubiquitous for this part of the world, but then there was Wye Valley HPA and the excellent Mantle Brewery Moho which was in good nick. Downstairs it has two bar rooms with the slightly smaller room more aligned to eating. And then up the stairs is the very pleasant Atlantic bar room and an additional proper dining room. We visited for a spot of lunch and the Chicken Curry Jacket and Cheese ploughmans we had were very good. Mixed food and service reviews on Trip Advisor for this one but as our visit was in the first week after the school hols on not a good beach day so the pub was not so busy ,we did not experience any of the service and food issues reported on that site. So I have to report as we found and for a decent pint and lunch stop this was a comfortable place and hit the spot for us