Blue Anchor, East Aberthaw

The Blue Anchor is included in this guide as an excellent example of how to successfully expand a genuinely old building by retaining separate room divisions with the result that it is a pub of great character. In the same family ownership for nearly 70 years, this thatched pub has been authoritatively dated to the mid 16th century and has a layout of six rooms around a central bar. However, it has only been like this for just over 50 years, when more of the building was converted into public rooms - the oldest items inside are the settles and 19th-century chairs. Prior to the early 1960s it consisted of just two rooms with beer served from barrels on a stillage. The snug at the front has a low stone doorway and ancient ceiling using horsehair. The front lounge has a modern counter and here you can see beams that were replaced following a major fire in 2004. The public bar situated to the right of the main door is the most traditional of the rooms with its flagstone floor, beamed ceiling, old inglenook fireplace and high backed settle; however this room has only been in use for just over 50 years, which is the date the bar fittings were added. A flat-roofed extension added in the early 1960s created the long bar and two rooms at the rear which have old settles. A restaurant accessed by a staircase at the rear was added in a further extension in 1984.