Cresselly Arms, Carew, Kilgetty

The Cresselly Arms has a fantastic location overlooking a river where a large group were canoeing and swimming when we arrive late on a Saturday afternoon. There are a reasonable number of tables with bench seating at the front of the pub, with further seating in the car park opposite. The car park itself is on the quay and I'd be very surprised if somebody hasn't managed to put their vehicle in the water. Onlookers watched with anticipation as I successfully tried a reversing manoeuvre on the edge of a drop of about 12 foot into the quay! The interior of the pub may well still be out of bounds for drinkers to sit and enjoy their pint, or was the reason everybody was outside simply due to the weather. Either way, you can still go inside to order your drink and can admire a simple, untouched country pub. The barman had about as much enthusiasm as a slug and the ale range was not as wide as I'd hoped. Sharp's Doom Bar was accompanied by the house beer - Caffle Quay Ale. A guest beer was Glamorgan Welsh Pale. I did enquire as to whether the casks on stillage offered any further choice, but the answer was no. I also enquired about real cider, but again there was none. With no bottled ciders either and with a very poor spirits selection, my wife did without. Meanwhile, I chose the Quay Ale. Toilets are semi-outdoors and smellier than most public toilets. So, do hold your nose. A fantastic old pub in an equally amazing setting. But the lack of ale and cider choice, the disinterested barman, the stinky toilets and a bar that seemed to err more on the side of dirtiness than characterful.

This pub is both Grade II Listed, and on CAMRA's Regional Inventory of pubs with historic interiors. Originally a house, it's been a pub since the end of the 19th Century. It's got the look of an old pub inside. The original bar area as you enter is very small, with just a tiny bit of bench seating in it. There's some more seating around to the right furnished with normal tables and chairs, and both of these rooms have very old looking quarry tiled floors. A further room at the back has been brought into pub use with more comfortable seating such as sofas and the like. Apparently some scenes from the film The Finest were filmed here, and at the end of the bar is an autographed photograph of the cast. But the main draw of this pub is its delightful setting right on Cresswell Quay, and overlooking the River Cresswell, with masses of outside seating. They have regular barbecues outside during summer months. There were three ales available on handpump during my recent visits - Doom Bar; Tenby Brewery MV Enterprise Pale Ale; and Caffle Brewery Quay Ale (£3.40 a pint). We were told that the Quay Ale was brewed specially for the pub. I thought "yes, I've heard that one before", but here I believe it's true, as the Caffle Brewery is fairly small. The Quay Ale certainly wasn't Hardy & Hanson's Bitter! They also had a beer on stillage - Hancock's HB - which was served by jug. You don't see that very often. Food is certainly not big business here, with basic rolls at £2 a pop being the most substantial grub available. As you might expect, this pub is somewhat out of the way, but is certainly worth the effort to find if you do find yourself in the depths of Pembrokeshire. A top pub.