Campaign for Real Pubs: The Cresselly Arms

The Cresselly Arms

The Cresselly Arms, Cresswell Quay, Pembrokeshire SA68 0TE

In a beautiful situation at the head of a tidal creek, this is a greystone, ivy-clad pub dating back around 250 years. The heart of the pub is the unspoilt Victorian public bar, with a quarry-tiled floor, an old cast-iron fireplace and original wooden bar counter and bar back fittings. In recent years it has been slightly opened up and extended towards the rear.

The admittedly rather bland Worthington Best Bitter is still drawn directly from the cask and served by jug, while Doom Bar and maybe a couple of local guest ales are dispensed from handpumps. No food is served. The pub was Pembrokeshire CAMRA Pub of the Year for 2015.

There’s plenty of outdoor seating, making it an excellent spot to sit outside on a summer evening and watch the sunset. Note that a lot of the ivy has been removed between the 2011 StreetView image and my picture taken on 23 June 2015.

3 comments:

retiredmartin20 April 2016 at 15:10
Only 5 hours drive, could be there by 9. Sounds terrific. I quite liked Worthington with a proper head, can't imagine it served from the jug !
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Curmudgeon20 April 2016 at 15:16
Have you never been there? Considered one of the classics that trips off everyone's tongue. Beautiful setting, but I think it's right that it's only regional, not national, inventory status.

I'm just catching up on a few additions from last year.
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retiredmartin21 April 2016 at 10:46
Don't think so ! You've been to that area a lot more than me. At Swansea in mid May so might detour.

Look forward to a post on Pontfaen?
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WHAT ARE REAL PUBS?

Real pubs are pubs whose primary function is still the original core purpose of pubs – for people to meet and socialise over a few drinks.

They may serve food, and very good food at that, but they don’t allow it to dominate to the exclusion of all else. They’ll probably have a strong core of regular customers, but still make casual drinkers welcome. They may well serve a good drop of real ale, but won’t be full of beer bores droning on about hop varieties and IBUs.

In many parts of the country they’re getting very hard to find. In recent years, the smoking ban, beer duty hikes, the demonisation of “one-drink driving” and the general anti-alcohol climate have all had their effect, but such pubs do still survive if you know where to look and deserve to be celebrated.

Although in many ways they are a laudable organisation, this blog is not connected with and does not in any way represent the Campaign for Real Ale.

The inclusion of a pub does not necessarily reflect a recent visit by myself, although often it does.