Ffarwel, Byn

Here’s the answer to last night’s Guess the Pub, my craftiest so far.

Tavarn Ty Elise, run by Byn from Merthyr in the middle of Finistère, though to be honest I’d have guessed it was somewhere near Maenclochog from those clues.

If I hadn’t edited the photos (all from Google Maps) you’d have seen the Coreff handpumps and the signs for French music, if such a thing exists.

Coreff on handpump; is it real ale ? Who cares ? Seems flat. Good to see children sitting at the bar, too.

Looks a classic, wish I’d been, but I’d never heard of it, oddly. Just makes me wonder what other classics I’ve missed. Remember that the Luppit in Luppit never made the GBG. Is there a Sam Smiths pub on the Faro Islands ?

Sadly, I’ll never get a pint (or a bottle of Felinfoel) from Byn, the landlord of 40 years, as he passed away on Saturday.

Nice obituary here from Mick;

“Bun told me he went to Brittany for a holiday, discovered Tavarn Ty Elise and never went back to his job. In the 1970s, Ty Elise was a very basic Breton bar; if you had to obey a call of nature, you went outside. The gents’ pissoir was a corner of a wall, exposed to the open air. One night, drinkers were very angry and irate; someone had parked his bike on the wall, leaving them with no toilet !

Let us toast Bun’s memory – especially Coreff...”

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

29 thoughts on “Ffarwel, Byn”

  2. Your clues convinced me it was in Wales, so I guessed that “TT” was Tafarn Ty, or Ty Tafarn as it would be in Welsh. That’s as far as I got. Interesting that they had a beer called Coreff, there’s a Cornish lager called Korev made by St Austell, I think.
    Have you been to the Luppitt? I have once, and I’m very glad I did; amazing place.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I thought “you don’t get spires like that in Britain”, then I looked at the waste pipe outlet on the gable end, without its vent stack…

      The review mentioned ‘”esgourdes”, French slang which translates as “lugholes”, and also Breton music.

      So I searched “Welsh pub in Brittany” and up it came.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Sticking that review in the post always risks giving it away, but you’re as likely to find the French in Berwick or Builth as you are the Welsh or Australians in northern France !

        Like

    2. I went to the Luppitt once, probably 1998 when I saw it on Mr Coe’s famous leaflet of basic pubs. From memory the Otter wasn’t great, but I was still surprised to hear that Duncan hadn’t visited till very recently as it had never made the Beer Guide. That tells me the GBG is an honest publication.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. “in the middle of Finistère”
    Finisterre derives from the Spanish ‘finis terre’ meaning the end of the earth so it wasn’t going to be an easy one.
    I remember Finisterre being all at sea up till nineteen years ago when that huge sector off the north western tip of Spain was re-named after Humphrey’s Tavern in Charlotte St, Fitzrovia

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  4. And of course you were back in Britain for this one as Brittany is also referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain ( as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology )

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I think it’s just Bretagne in French, so Britain. The Bretons in Bretagne would not thank you for calling their homeland Little Britain!

      The Meteorological Office tried to cover up the renaming of Finisterre by claiming it was in honour of their founder, Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy. Your explanation makes much better sense. A fine pub indeed, and deserves every accolade.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. SH,
        iI think I read somewhere that the Bretons had recently taken back control of Bretagne.
        Yes indeed, and my only disappointment with Humphrey’s Fitzroy Tavern was with the Stingo pumpclip being turned round on Friday 13th December 2019, not that there was anything wrong with his OBB.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Martin,
        The nearest I’ve known to that was in the Stafford Arms twenty years ago drinking Barbe Torte and Contrabandier from Normandy’s Brasserie de la Soif.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I hope that the intruders were soundly thrashed and stuck back on the train to France via Euston.

        Actually, I can recommend the bars of Strasbourg, though that’s practically Germany.

        Like

      7. Martin,
        Yes, with Belgian beer, Belgian chocolates and Belgian hares Belgium’s not a bad country.
        Except that it’s top of the world list of coronavirus deaths with 1916 per million.
        But with Boris closing all pubs for nearly a year the UK is way down the list in fourth place with 1823 deaths per million.
        Czechia is in second place with 1859 and Slovenia in third place with 1824.
        If “the Health Lobby” learnt that the top four were all beer drinking nations they proudly proclaim that beer causes coronavirus. So keep quiet about this one.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. “Here’s the answer to last night’s Guess the Pub, my craftiest so far.”

    Well done sir! (doffs hat)

    “If I hadn’t edited the photos ”

    Do you use Microsoft Paint? 😉

    “Good to see children sitting at the bar, too.”

    (nods)

    “One night, drinkers were very angry and irate; someone had parked his bike on the wall, leaving them with no toilet !”

    LOL. Went to a few places in France a bit like that when I visited my brother back in 2015.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    3. I seem to remember that we’d covered the windowless “two bricks” cubicles, with the timed light switch on the OUTSIDE…

      What could possibly go wrong?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment