The Pen and Wig Newport in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide 2024

The Pen and Wig (formerly Georgian House), on Stow Hill in Newport, is a JWB pub which is LocAle accredited – this means they regularly stock at least one real ale.

The established Newport pub offers regular and changing ales and it has made it into CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2024.

This is the 51st edition of the UK’s best-selling independent pub and beer guide and it includes a foreword by Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson.

The inclusion of The Pen and Wig demonstrates the high standards of the venue – plus means CAMRA members are entitled 10 per cent discount on real ale (providing they have a current membership card).

Along with a variety of beverages – with many sourced from Welsh breweries – the open plan pub hosts live music and has space to hire upstairs (known as The Stow Hill Rooms).

It also boasts a large, decked beer garden which was upgraded in 2021 when only outdoor service was available due to the Covid pandemic.

The Pen and Wig also offers food prepared in its kitchen – specialising in steaks but there are vegetarian options – and was recently reinstated its five (excellent) food hygiene rating.

And the venue has also proven popular with reviewers – it has an overall rating of four out of five on TripAdvisor based on more than 145 reviews.

A recent five-star titled “excellent food” was left by a patron who was “pleasantly surprised” by their experience.

They wrote: “We decided to eat as the food that was coming out looked and smelled amazing” adding that their cod and chips was “perfectly cooked and tasted great” while their partner – who had sirloin steak – said it was “probably the best cooked and tastiest steak she has had.”

The Pen and Wig in Newport also has an overall 4.2 rating based on more than 800 Google reviews and an overall 4.0 rating based on more than 345 Facebook reviews (accurate at the time of publication).