BRITISH INNS 2: TWO TOMS TAVERN

THE BRITISH PUB

 

For centuries the great British Pub has been the traditional centre of social life in most communities. It has been a place to relax, take your ease and enjoy good conversation with friends. These pubs welcomed anybody - old or young, male or female, smoker or non-smoker - to sit and enjoy the simple activities and facilities. In recent years these traditional values have been eroded or changed beyond recognition - many have become little more than glorified eateries, hideous themed bars or [worse] deafeningly loud ‘vertical drinking’ corrals void of anybody over thirty years old. The nationwide smoking ban has just about finished off the normal pub camaraderie. These pieces were written as a tribute to a disappearing tradition, and supported some fictitious Inn Sign designs I made which can be seen on my flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7911705@N07

 

This is one of those Inns

 

 

 

THE TWO TOMS TAVERN

I expect your curiosity may be mildly aroused by the wording on the sign. Rightly so, since the Inn – one of the most ancient in Wales – has not always been called the Two Toms. It was originally called ‘Y Ddraig Goch’ [The Red Dragon] and featured the red dragon from the Welsh flag.

The Inn is set in a near idyllic spot on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, in a wooded dell close by a spectacular and beautiful waterfall. It is now a ‘must’ for affluent summer visitors to the area who come to absorb the scenery and hope for rare glimpses of the wild Welsh Mountain Ponies and the magnificently horned feral goats. In the early days of the Inn the customers were somewhat more humble: cattle and sheep drovers en route to the large cities of England. The inn had a well-founded reputation for skulduggery and lusty roistering. It was said, indeed, that neither English nor Welsh law applied there.

There is no doubt that the inn is wonderfully picturesque and well worth the short but steep slog from the car park slightly down the hillside. The exhausted traveller can be sure of best quality [and VERY strong] Welsh Ales, Whiskeys and the increasingly famous Black Mountain Liqueur. All these are served with a help-yourself bar board of local cheeses – from cows, sheep and goats – with great hunks of crusty locally-baked bread and good Welsh Butter. ‘Bara, menyn, caws’ [bread butter and cheese] is inscribed above the bar. There is no charge for this food – simply a collection plate for local charities. There is, however, a reasonably-priced range of traditional welsh dishes available for those who want a more substantial meal – and the Tavern’s ‘cawl’ is a popular favourite especially during the colder parts of the year. Cawl is a kind of perpetual Welsh stew – which is simply topped up with new ingredients as it gets used. The Two Toms cawl features goat meat since the landlord is responsible for the annual cull [under the auspices of the RSPCA] of the feral goats, although any meat, including game, can find its way into the pot sitting on the fire in the main bar. Vegetables are also added in season so the cawl is never the same from one day to the next, although it is always both delicious and substantial. Vegetarian guests can try the Laver Bread [made from seaweed]; the Glamorgan sausages [from cheese] and the Gower goose [stuffed giant mushrooms].

Accommodation is rather unusual – there are only two rooms available in the inn itself – although a further six ‘rooms’ can be rented in the six vardas [genuine demounted gypsy caravans] arranged like the spokes of a wheel in the field behind the inn. These very cosy and quaint little hideaways are very popular with the local young people in the cold winter months when outdoor canoodling is less than attractive. You must remember that this is an area where ‘bundling’ – the practice of letting young lovers who were committed to sleep together with the sheets folded in such a way that they were not in contact – was commonplace. The Welsh were puritanical only in terms of alcohol on Sunday – although the popularity of Working Men’s Clubs [who were not subject to the ‘dry Sunday’ laws] shows that a way round even that restriction was found.

Oh, sorry, I forgot to explain the name ‘Two Toms.’ The name has been used since the early 1900s when a young Welshman returned from exile – he had been accused [rightly] of wilful destruction of mountain land boundaries belonging to absent English gentry. He had found a welcome in the Scottish borders and had worked hard to become the landlord of a good Scottish Inn called ‘The Twa Bla’ Cats’ which gave him the inspiration for a new inn sign. His name was Thomas Thomas – and it did not take very long for the Welsh love of puns and nicknames to change the name of the pub to The Two Toms to refer both to the landlord and the sign. The Thomas family still own this Welsh tavern [tafarn Cymraeg], and since the eldest of the present four sons is called Thomas it is likely that ‘Two Toms’ will again be a most appropriate name for this remarkable inn.