82) Royal Oak Pub, Bryn

Bryn is a small community, situated in the Llynfi Valley, just before the border between Port Talbot and the county of Bridgend. Bryn means hill, and that makes it a very appropriate name for the place. In the course of playing in the Bridgend Quiz League, at least once a year I've driven from Port Talbot to Maesteg, which means passing through Bryn. Apart from the lovely rounded end of the pub, the really intriguing thing about it is that if you come from Maesteg, it's at the bottom of a long, open downhill road, and this large pub seemingly sits in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it. Of course there are houses hidden behind it and just down the road around the bend, but even so it's a striking sight. 

80) British Lion Pub, Cwmavon

I really have no other reason to include this one - other than that it is a nice looking building too - other than the only time I have ever been in it was to play in a quiz, more than 2 decades ago. My team and I were well beaten, where we actually expected to win. From which I learned a valuable lesson - if you can't deal with losing in a quiz, then learn a lot of stuff and become a better quizzer. This is one of the last buildings before Cwmavon melts into Pontrhydyfen. 

68) Outside the Somerset Arms on a sunny Sunday Evening

I thought long and hard about how whether to sketch much of the pub itself, but decided on reflection that the pub really isn’t the story, while the people are. Which is not to say that the Somerset Arms itself isn’t worth sketching, since it is. But the story is basically that on any sunny Sunday early evening both this, and the forecourt of the Old Surgery on the other side of the main road, are full of life, full of people. I felt more drawn to the Somerset because the Old Surgery at the time was full of a much younger crowd, and I felt more comfortable sketching people of a comparable vintage to myself.

48) The Rolling Mill Public House, Cwmavon

Here’s an old Port Talbot quiz question. Which was the first pub in Port Talbot opened after the end of World War II? Answer – this one, the Rolling Mill in Cwmavon. It takes its name from part of the steelworks.

18) Craddock Arms Pub, Aberavon

This sketch was based on a photograph which I took before I went to Prague, and completed after I returned. In the interim, sadly, the building had been demolished. I’ve already said how I think my style changed and developed when I returned from Prague, and I stick by this, but you’d be hard pressed to tell that from just looking at this sketch. Incidentally, because I was making this from a photograph, I made a Youtube instructional video while I was sketching it.