The Beer Guide seems determined to promote lovely Wrexham’s pub tourist credentials.
Another GBG packed with new entries in the posh Cheshire-lite villages to the north and the grittier hills towards Mold.
I had the joy of a walk from the bus stop at Rossett through tiny lanes with giant hedges. A quiet, straggling, bucolic slice of the Borders but you’re definitely on the Welsh side.
And all to myself bar the odd learner horse rider and a few suicidal peacocks.
To the north there’s old deer parks and golf lessons and a scary Brunning & Pricey, so I stay the Welsh side of the border and climb over bridges to nowhere.
There’s an odd looking farm yard with all the red phone boxes they don’t need for mini libraries.
Just as I notice those, a Pit Bull Terrier, probably from Rhyl, runs towards the gate until the leash stops him a foot short of my delicate neck.
On safer ground, the Griffin is about to open.
A man is hiding up a ladder away from the Pit Bull, and he assures me it’ll be open at midday.
I love pubs with little porches like this one.
I bet the car park at the Grosvenor Arms up in Aldford was filling up by now, but I walked in to peace.
The Griffin seem surprised to see me, and the owner is training a new member of staff.
I make sure her first task is to pull a half of the Marstons house beer.
There’s a lovely feel to the place. A pub cat called Rocky and a shy lizard the highlights.
Nothing much beats a pub lunch in a quiet rural village, so I had the pulled pork Panini (invented in Wrexham) and a half for a fiver.
Lunchtime trade is dying, of course, and I bet Si gets a completely different feel at 4pm on a Saturday in December.
I just hope Rocky, the friendliest pub cat of the year, is still there to meet him.
retiredmartin 
One of those days when you don’t want to be anywhere else.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Porches like that are great. They remind of youth hostels in the days you were kicked out at 10 and weren’t allowed back in till 5. I did this one last year and only when checking my records found I had been there many years before. Amateurish. Thought the large lizard in a tank might have featured in your post but maybe it is no more.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ah, yes,”remind of Youth Hostels in the days you were kicked out at 10 and weren’t allowed back in till 5″ and the dilemma was what to do from 10am to noon and from 3pm to 5pm.
I’ve actually spent about twenty nights in Youth Hostels since the beginning of last year and many now are located in cities not far from Stonegate pubs and Tim’s venues.
There’s no longer the “10pm curfew” but that’s past my bedtime anyway.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have life membership but haven’t used it for years. They seem relatively pricey (compared to some of the digs Martin finds) these days. Pubs were closed in the afternoons in those days too!
LikeLike
They’ve made more sense in Europe in places without budget family rooms, but you’ll never find a single room in a YHA cheaper than a B&B and I prefer to avoid the sound of snoring if I can afford it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have just paid £28.58 including breakfast for London St Pauls later this week and don’t think that’s too pricey
– and with £6.25 for the train back, a bit more outwards, I can afford to get out and about a bit.
Edinburgh YH last month was only slightly dearer.
LikeLike
That’s good value.
NB I shall be in Chiswick & Hammersmith this Saturday attempting to get a table in the Dove for the Southworths.
LikeLike
For Saturday I’m booked on the 4.46pm out of Euston.
LikeLike
The lizard was there but my photo was just my reflection (or perhaps the lizard looks like me). Do you remember the lizard (think, probably a moth) in the Blisland ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haven’t been to Blisland for 20 odd years. Have been to the Lizard more recently though 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember the lizard in the Blisland well, although I don’t think it’s there now. I have a tale about the Blisland involving a pork pie,some foil and a fridge magnet but perhaps the world is not yet ready.
Haven’t been to that Griffin (as opposed to the one in Gresford) for over 30 years. Doesn’t seem to have changed much though. Damn fine pub.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The world will never be ready, Bill.
The Blisland dropped out of the GBG recently do I guess Gary the Brummie who won National Pub of the Year left.
LikeLike
You’re getting some decent rewards for your ticks at the mo. I didn’t know they were phone boxes, thought they were just for defibrillators as ours are in the Peak.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Phone boxes were often used as urinals – so has Martin ever poured any ‘Sarsons’ into one ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’re all libraries down here, what with us being edukated and the like, and you all eating lard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We spread beef dripping on our scratchings if you don’t mind. BTW I’m off to the Outer Hebrides on Saturday, want a tick doing on North Uist?
LikeLike
Oh, the pubs have been glorious of late. If not the beer or architecture, the welcome has been great (as it was in Buxton). Pubs are great.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely cat.
I wonder which Marston’s beer that’s based on. It’s clearly not EPA as it’s BBB colour, but Banks’s and Saddle Tank are too strong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But they can brew anything and everything, especially now they’ve got a 2½ barrel nanobrewery.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a bit honey favoured, though tasty enough.
LikeLike
Black & Oxblood tiles are my No.1 flooring, beating even the venerable Wilton Carpet into the runner-up spot. A bar counter and some three-legged milking stools, that ‘is’ a pub for me. And a table equipped for Doms. Obviously…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, Mark, when you see those tiles, then you know that there’s a chance that the tables might be blissfully varnish-free too.
LikeLike
And the toilets might be outside and blessed with fresh air.
Yes, three more signs of a Proper Pub.
LikeLike
Paul, the greater blessing is, that the inside is free of air which has previously been in the toilets, but I think that you probably included that.
LikeLike
Of course the big drawback of tiles is they’re often cleaned prior to opening with the strongest bucket of pine-fresh bleach money can buy. If you’re unlucky enough to arrive early you might as well be drinking in the toilets…
LikeLike
But the smell of pine-fresh bleach might just overwhelm the grapefruit taste of the beer.
LikeLike
You referred to Marstons house beer and included a photo of the pump clip “Trevalyn’s Tipple.” Would that be a beer that’s specific to this one area? Or can you find Trevalyn’s Tipple in a wide variety of places?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess it’s named for the pub itself, Mark, but we weren’t sure in comments whether it would be an existing Marston brand rebadged or one brewed for the pub.
A few pubs do have beers specifically brewed for them, but they tend to be those with larger turnover than this one.
If you’re unhappy with this answer you may complain to the Regulator for Pub Blogs 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
“with new entries in the posh Cheshire-lite villages to the north ”
Blacon? Is that the Asian version of bacon?
“Hills!”
As far as the eye can see (literally as they are on the horizon). 😉
“Road to nowhere. Or possibly Lavister.”
That could be anywhere in the UK.
“Worth a few bob”
Probably in storage to replace the current ones being used as mini libraries?
“and he assures me it’ll be open at midday.”
Hopefully he didn’t mean the gate, allowing the pit bull to leave.
“Open at 12. What witchcraft is this.”
Judging from the sign maybe it’s the fires that open at 12?
“Proper Pub alert”
It almost looks like you could play checkers using the floor.
“Rocky refused the glass of wine”
That’s taking well known cat snootiness to a new level.
“so I had the pulled pork Panini (invented in Wrexham)”
That explains the (sort of) nearby Blacon. (i.e. bánh mì). 🙂
“I just hope Rocky, the friendliest pub cat of the year, is still there to meet him.”
Doesn’t Si refers to cats as twats?
Cheers
LikeLike
Believe me, Russ, there is nothing posh about Blacon whatsoever.
LikeLike
Not all cats are twats. Not all child’s are twilds. All Maidenhead are Twaidenheadians.
LikeLike
Wrexham should be in the football league…proper footy town
LikeLiked by 2 people