Bull, Beaumaris (Olde Bull's Head Inn)

The marvellous unspoilt public bar and a snug annexe to the left in this 17/18th century inn are barely altered in 50 years. This was a coaching inn on the London to Holyhead route prior to Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge. In the courtyard is what is recorded in The Guinness Book of Records as the largest simple-hinged door in Britain (11 feet wide and 13 feet high). The oldest pub fittings are the shelving at the rear of the servery in the public bar. As the photo from the 1960s on the wall above the fireplace shows there were large niches to the left and right of the fireplace but in recent years the left one has become an arched short passageway to link a former separate business. This is now a tiny snug bar, which has a brick bar counter of c.1960 with two old wooden hatch doors above and marble bar top.

The entrance hall with a flagstone and tiled floor has an Art Nouveau decoration on a window to the bar/left side. The residents’ lounge on the right was a shop in 1928. The last major changes to the public bar were possibly around 1940, the date on the bank of three handpumps with red Bakelite handles. The brick fireplace, bar counter featuring four rows of 1930s-looking bricks and the red leather bay window seating could well date from c.1940. The stable door/hatch to the side looks much older.