Red Lion, Llansannan

A visit to the Red Lion is a must to see a 'parlour bar' / tiny snug which is an example of how many traditional Welsh 'beer house' looked prior to the late 1880s and the introduction of bar counters. The left hand snug (called the 'Bull Pen' in the 1950s) features a curved settle around a range fireplace (the surround was brick until 1950s when it was plastered over - see the dated photograph by the side) with iron stays from the top of the settle to the beams above.

There are only a handful of similar rooms or snugs formed of two or more high backed settles left in the whole of the UK. They can be found at the following Heritage Pubs – the Holly Bush, Mackeney, Derbyshire; Malt Shovel, Spondon, Derbyshire; Green Dragon, Flaunden, Hertfordshire; Red Lion, Kenninghall, Norfolk; North Star, Steventon, Oxfordshire; Kings Head, Laxfield, Suffolk; Bell & Cross, Holy Cross, Clent, Worcestershire; Old White Beare, Norwood Green, Yorkshire, West; Crown, Snape, Suffolk;; Wheatsheaf, Raby, Merseyside;; Galway Arms, East Retford, Nottinghamshire;; and Anchor, High Offley, Staffordshire .

The copper hood above the fireplace has a 1960s appearance. Nowadays you walk around the outside of the settle to go to a hatch for service - in the old days you would have been served direct to your seat with the publican fetching the beer from the cellar. There are some very old shelves for a bar back. Up to 40 years ago the room at the rear was just the left-hand half with its stone fireplace. In the 1960s it was doubled in size when the house next door was purchased by Lees Brewery (primarily to add indoor toilets) and the front pool room was created which still retains a period bar counter.