Sportsman, Newtown

Formally the Monty’s Brewery tap. The Sportsman became a free house in 2020 when the brewery's lease ended. There are always 4 ales on, making it a real ale Mecca for quite some distance, certainly on the Welsh side of the border! Not surprisingly this is the HQ for CAMRA Montgomeryshire! A former Good Beer Guide regular which featured in the first guide in 1972 the pub suffered a long decline in the late 90’s and closed in the mid 2000’s. Fortunately when Monty’s Brewery wanted to set up a brewery tap the building was boarded up and for sale, a complete refurbishment followed and re-opened in April 2010 with an experienced landlord on hand. The pub has gone from strength to strength which it needed to as it can only really do wet sales due to the small kitchen. With 15 licensed premises within a 5 minute walk for a town of 18,000 there’s plenty of competition. Its success is down to quality and offering something different. The building itself is a Georgian three story brick affair and a pub calling itself the New Inn was recorded in 1800. A comfy lounge area is to be found to the right of the entrance with the main public bar and log fire to the left. Through the archway toward the back is a pool table and TV screen and to the rear there’s a small outside drinking area mainly used by smokers. It was voted Montgomeryshire branch pub of the year 2013 and Welsh cider/perry pub of the year 2014 but, sadly the real cider has now been discontinued. Vaping is welcomed!