Griffin Inn, Gresford

This pub has an opened-up interior but the work was carried out in 1954 and is a very rare example of quality work carried out a number of years before the wave of opening-up that affected countless multi-roomed pubs carried out in the 1960s onwards.
This old pub has a most interesting interior - an early example of the opening-up of a pub interior of four rooms having been undertaken around 1954 by the Chester Northgate Brewery. Local builders Richard Randles & Son of Marford created segmental archways with a shallow rise and solid pillars using polished Ruabon pressed bricks with rounded quoins. The two bar counters are of polished Ruabon brickettes laid in a herringbone fashion and they replaced two hatches. There are three fireplaces with differing styles all from c.1954, also using polished Ruabon bricks from the Ruabon 'Red Works' which was founded in 1878. One of the four opened-up rooms has the feel of an earlier period with its good inter-war fixed bench seating.

Look for the empty beer can which is apparently worth more than ‘a few bob’! Since 1971 it has been run by Jean Williams, an accomplished pianist who will play if requested by the locals, particularly on Fri. & Sat. evenings. The pub is run on very traditional lines with no food, no piped music, no machines and no pool table (there is a TV, but it is rarely used).