Inside town split in two with a pub that’s half in England AND Wales…and golf holes that straddle both countries
RESIDENTS have opened up about life in a town that is half Welsh and half English – saying that the golf holes straddle both countries and the pub crawls are confusing.
Llanymynech sits on the border between Shropshire in England and Powys in Wales.
Drinkers at the Dolphin pub in Wales have to cross into England if they fancy another pint at the Cross Keys and the Bradford Arms – even though they are just three minutes away.
The border even cuts right through the entrance of the Bradford Arms.
It used to run through the middle of the now-shut Lion, with its bar on the Welsh side following different licence conditions to the bar on the English side.
Bob Hedley, landlord of the Bradford Arms, said: “We do show the football and the rugby when England and Wales are playing.
“But most of my customers are over 30, so we don’t get much trouble.
“It’s mostly a bit of banter.”
He added: “I’m English and there a lot of English-born people living here alongside Welsh people.
“But I think most of us are happy with the village’s dual identity.”
John Turner, the English-born landlord of the The Dolphin, said that until Sunday drinking laws in Wales were repealed it was legal to drink on the English side but not the Welsh.
But he says there are “no issues” between English and Welsh villagers and he describes it as “the best community he’s ever lived in”.
“Everyone speaks to everyone here,” he said. “We’re all very friendly.”
CLUB TOGETHER
But the golf lover said that the a quirk of the local course is that holes four, five, six and seven are in England while the rest are in Wales.
He added that the tee for hole four is in Wales while the green in England.
If villagers fancy a chippy meal, they’ll have to go to England – but they can only get a Indian takeaway in Wales.
Rumours suggest the buyer of The Lion, which has been empty for several years, wants to turn it into flats – but they’ve encountered problems because the building straddles the border and two different planning authorities are involved.
Lifelong local Anne Wellings, 79, remembers how drinkers at the former pub would have to move between bars because drinking laws differed between Wales and England.
She said: “You could drink in one bar, which was in Wales and then move to another bar, which was in England.”
South Africans Sharon and Charles Blyth have lived in the village for a year after moving there from Oxford.
Sharon, 53, said: “I thought we were moving to Wales.
“It wasn’t until we got the house that we actually realised it’s just over the border in England.”