Y Llew Coch (Red Lion), Machynlleth

Pubs undergone a significant revamp, big beer garden opened for Covid regulations, Banks and Marstons have gone(See Charity Shop for old sign). Tidy inside plenty of Rock memorabilia inside a knowledgeable Landlord and a fantastic enthusiastic barmaid. Food is also very good. Its aimed at music fans with local bands and old school bands on weekends and can get busy. Llew Coch would (and thankfully) be almost unrecognisable from The Red Lion. Sadly the one redeeming factor of the Old Red were the characters that have since passed away and thus is one significant reason it's struggled since, along with a raft of useless landlords who could run a piss up but not in a pub. A few minus points is not much undercover in the Beer Garden, not a lot of Ale choice and it's difficult to tell if it's open.

This is a locals pub that retains a large Banks's sign on the exterior. Inside it's a wide rectangular room where a pool table wastes a lot of space over to the left and there is a small group of low tables and chairs to the immediate right. The bar is to the rear and has two very obtrusive TV screens above it showing sport. Other furniture was all high or medium height. I managed to find a solitary low table and chair around the back next to a door with glass panes that were all cracked except one which was boarded up. It was fairly quiet at around 12:30 on a snowy February Wednesday. Although there are three hand pumps all were unused and despite the external sign there was no keg Banks's Mild. I had a pint of Marston's Smooth Crap (£2.40) which really was a crap drink. Rather than translate the English heraldic Red Lion name into Welsh perhaps they should have given it an original Welsh name. I would suggest Y Twll Cacha. With the obtrusive TV screens and pool table plus no real ale it gets the score of shame.

Taken over again it's about one landlord per year now. The refurb looks awful it's like a strip bar in Blackpool. This time those running it might be as clueless as the previous. One wonders why they bother. For the same Beer, similar but far smaller crowd you can drink the same beer in The Skinners for a lot less cost.

Unremarkable locals pub retaining the Banks branding (now owned by Marstons of course). Didn’t feel overly comfortable in here and the Banks beer was pretty poor.