Colwyn Bay Pub Crawl

The Crafty Fox micropub is in Old Colwyn. Two former retail units were combined back in 2018 to create it; an old Tattoo Parlour (and before that, a lady’s clothes shop) and a butchers.

It’s on the main road and is very easy to find, a fifteen-minute walk or a few stops on a twelve bus from Colwyn Bay (or a lot more from Llandudno).

The main entrance leads to the bar area, with the actual bar located at the back of the room. On either side of the room there are tables made from old Singer Sewing machines with oak tops. On the walls are old photos of Colwyn Bay. They serve several real ales of various types.

Off to the right is a lounge, which is unfortunately dominated by a pool table.

When I was there the barman was very helpful. I had three pints of Farriers Best Bitter from the Coach House Brewery, at £4 a pint (excellent taste, excellent value and the cheapest pint of the weekend), he offered me a taster. I only meant to have two, but I got into an interesting conversation with him. About Camra, Freedom of Speech and politics. He was very knowledgeable; and we were more or less on the same wavelength. Apparently, the local Camra branch doesn’t like the Farriers Bitter, god knows why.

There were several locals in the bar all talking to each other and supping pints. It’s very much a locals pub.

The next time I visit it, I’ll walk along the sea front from Colwyn Bay. From the map, it looks like it’s a very pleasant walk, an hour or so. With some excellent real ale at the end of the walk.

There were two standout pubs on my visit to Llandudno this weekend, this one and the Albion in Conwy.

The Black Cloak Taproom is on the main road through Colwyn Bay. Opened in 2018 as a brew pub; the brewery moved to a larger premises in Denbigh back in 2024.

When I was there, they only had three real ales on, and one of those didn’t count because it was an Osset Beer. The other two were from their brewery, a pale ale and a porter. I had two pints of the pale ale. It was excellent, at £4.20 a pint. Most of the beers were Keg, they sold around a dozen of them. You could choose any three beers in third pint glasses, served on a paddle. An option chosen by quite a few of the customers. As usual the keg beers were expensive, severed in pint and two-third pint measures.

The barman was very helpful, helping people choose their three beers. Giving people tasters if they wanted.

I sat at the bar, my favourite position in a pub. There were four or five tables to sit around. A pleasant place.

The barman told me about an excellent fish and chip shop nearby (they don’t do food), turn left on leaving the pub, it’s down the first road on the left. Unfortunately, I arrived at ten past six, it closed at six!

The Bay Hop is close to the Black Cloak Taproom. Turn right on leaving the taproom, it’s down one of the roads on the right, easily visible.

It’s an award winning micropub that opened back in 2016. It’s won the local Camra branches pub of the year award numerous times. If you like cider, it won branch cider pub of the year last year. I only stayed for one quick pint. Its strength was under 4% and it cost me £4.80, the most expensive pint of the weekend.

There are four or five tables and two settles. I was lucky to get a seat at one of them, it was after six on Friday night and the pub was busy.

My visit was marred by a yapping dog, that just wouldn’t shut up (he’s not usually like this….). I was also having a problem with my camera. I left after ten minutes, but I’ll return, in the afternoon, when hopefully it’s quieter.