I mean. Just look at it. Who needs words?
A flying return visit after 20 years. Yes, I was right the first time. It’s gorgeous.
Oh yes, there’s Bass.
Actually, sometimes the Bass sign is a red herring.
And or course, not all Bass is Good Bass.
This was good (though not cheap) Bass. Rich, cool, tight head. NBSS 3.5.
But more than the Bass , it was the pre-Christmas pubbiness that stood out.
Lots of groups, young and old, irreverent and joyful.
Who cares they weren’t all drinking the Bass?
Not me.
The best pub in Caernarfon by a Welsh mile, but I thought it was very schizophrenic depending on who was in there. It can vary dramatically between proper boozer and up-its-own-arse touristy dining pub.
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That’s a very perceptive comment. Pre Christmas drinking crowd gave it something Summer diners possibly wouldn’t have.
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I’m curious if assessing it before Christmas when the beer is flowing through the lines and the place is packed gives it an unfair advantage?
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Yes it’s very unfair, Morten.
I insist you go there now and reassess it.
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I think I’ve described it as my top Welsh pub.
I’ve not found it “schizophrenic” and “up-its-own-arse” might be for later in the day than I’ve drunk there.
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I know what Old Mudgie means, which just shows how good pubs can subtly change character over a day.
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And it’s not always easy, especially in a ‘strange’ town, guessing when the beer in the lines overnight has been sold and when the pub gets “up-its-own-arse.”
At worst the two overlap and it’s best avoided.
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The Black Boy is basically a residential hotel and restaurant with a public bar tacked on at the left-hand end. My comment was prompted by the high prices and rather self-important tone of the food menu, not by the pub offer.
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I’ve always thought of the Black Boy as an ‘inn’ that, being multi-roomed, successfully combines the businesses of pub, restaurant and hotel – much as the George in Eccleshall did when the Slaters had it.
The proper sized Public Bar to the left – an integral part of the building rather than “tacked on” ( but some of the accommodation is ‘tacked on’ at the back ) – is, I believe, as Proper a Pub as any other in Caernarfon.
I didn’t notice anything odd about the menu when I dined there and had scouse ( which nowadays is a common feature of Liverpool pub menus ). My breakfasts when staying were about the best I’ve had outside of Smithfield Market.
I admit though that my suggestion of the Black Boy as my top Welsh pub might not count for much as I rarely drink in Wales. I used 38 Welsh pubs in 2017 and 23 last year but it’s more usually about the seven of 2018.
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I noticed the Black Boy get quite a few tourists dropping in from the Premier Inn just outside the wall. That turnover counts for a lot.
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You can only judge it on when you’re there and it certainly looks magnificent….
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I was intrigued by the pub sign, which seemed to suggest an alternate source for the pub’s name (and indeed provides a different official name altogether!). Have you seen this sort of thing with other pubs that have “Boy” in the name?
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Didn’t this come up recently somewhere else? Sure there was a Black Buoy sign. Paul will know.
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“There are at least three theories to explain the origins of its name. One relates to a black boy brought into the country on a ship, another suggests it is related to a navigational buoy which existed in the harbour in the early days of the Inn, and the third refers to the nickname given to Charles II by his mother and the fact that Royalists met here secretly at that time.”
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