Fox

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North-East Wales - Ysceifiog

Three star - A pub interior of exceptional national historic importance

Listed Status: II

Ysceifiog Village Road
Ysceifiog
CH8 8NJ

OS ref: SJ153714

Tel: (01352) 720241

Website http://www.foxinnysceifiog.co.uk/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/foxinnysceifiog

Real Ale: Yes

Lunchtime Meals: Yes

Evening Meals: Yes

View on: Whatpub

This appealing village pub has four small rooms and is relatively little altered since the 1930s. Beyond the entrance is a slate-floored drinking lobby with a tiny hatch in the leaded screen around the servery. A sliding door on the left leads to the most important room - the small, panelled front bar which is no doubt the oldest part of the pub. It has bare bench seating, some of it, remarkably, attached to the front of the counter. At the rear left the dining room has a disused glazed, sliding hatch to the servery, and retains inter-war fixed seating. The rear right room caters for overspill dining. At the front right is a small games room with a cast-iron fireplace.
This two-storey late Georgian village pub with four small rooms is a splendid survivor being little altered since the 1930s.

The slate-floored drinking lobby has a tiny hatch in the leaded screen around the servery, which would have also been the off-sales, and occasionally customers can be seen drinking here. A sliding door leads to the tiny front bar with an old counter, old panelling on the window side, a 1930s tiled fireplace with a coal fire and bare bench seating, including some attached to the front of the counter - something that may be unique in a pub anywhere. The intimate space means visitors are quickly drawn into conversation.

At the rear the lounge is served from a bar more like a hatch with its sliding window, now kept permanently open. This room retains fixed seating dating from the 1930s and a post-war fireplace. To the front right is the small snug with a cast-iron fireplace.

Look for the number of the doors, a requirement of H M Customs and Excise to denote all the rooms in a public house used for the storage or sale of alcohol. There is a '4' on the door to the lounge; a '5' on the door to the rear right room, which has been in use as a dining room in the past; and '6' on the cellar door. The Fox retains a disused, but rarely seen, cask pump - a way of serving beer direct from a cask with the added benefit of serving it with a good 'head' - if not visible just ask to see it.
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