Castle Inn, Bridgend

Castle Inn stood on Castle Street in Bridgend from before 1842 until at least 2017, giving travellers and locals a familiar anchor beside the old town. Sarah Hughes kept it in the 1860s, Jacob Watkins and Dinah took it over after her death, and later landlords faced petty fines for bad gin or late beer. The building had five bedrooms, a large yard and stables, so it served people arriving by cart as much as those walking in for ale. Its rooms likely echoed with cart wheels, chapel talk and market noise, while its cellar measured the town’s hunger and generosity one pint at a time.