Watson's Ale House, Knighton

Small former shop, long room with bar on the left, good beer & cider and very friendly and welcoming place well worth it for the beer fan

As always when visiting a new town, I consulted the Good Beer Guide. It used to be the Red Lion - which bizarrely doesn't open till 4pm on a Saturday. According to Google Maps, this place suffered the same fate. I arrive into town after my 13 mile walk from Llanbister Road at 2:45. I thought I would check and delighted to find it open. Ignore Google Maps - its a 1pm'er on a Sat. Small room, with a proper bar - 3 handpulls on - Conwy Clogwen Gold (chosen, perfect condition) and a Bishops Castle Stout. Failed to notice the 3rd. We're still in lock down in Wales (even if my car was moments away in England at the station) so it was mask on, sit down for table service. Nice little suntrap garden - so I didn't spend any time inside. Friendly owner and just two other punters - who I took for locals rather than the much read here Blue Scrumpy - where it looks like he was in town on the same day doing a bit of ticking. Typical Micro experience - made more pleasant than usual by the friendly host and nice garden.

Watson's Ale House is located almost at the top of a hill in this quiet mid-Wales market town. We arrived to find just one other customer, who was actually staying at the property. Watson's does have 2 rooms available for accommodation. It was perhaps lucky that the other guy had come down for a drink, as I had the feeling that they may have closed early otherwise. This micropub is listed on the Real Ale Finder app/website. So, I was already eyeing up a stout that was supposed to be on, given the complete lack of any dark beers elsewhere in this part of the country. Sadly, I arrived to find that it had just gone off. Instead, there were a couple of Conwy beers - Clogwyn Gold & Surfin' IPA. I tried both, but they were similar in style, apart from a difference in strengths. They also sell the owner's own cider - Watson's Dry, with the emphasis on dry. This was the other customer's choice of tipple and he was clearly struggling with his pint, due to the tannic taste. I opted for a half to finish and was equally unimpressed. The barman admitted that trade was certainly well down since the various lockdowns. I can only assume that the usual customer base for this micropub are still staying at home, given that visitors to the town are still filling most of its accommodation. So, the pub needs and deserves support. The interior itself consisted of a fairly large room at the front, with the bar set in a raised room beyond. There may well have been further drinking space behind that. But I didn't explore that far. The front room had a good selection of board games. Friendly and welcoming place that worth seeking out if in this part of Wales.