When the Crown and Anchor pub in Llanidloes in mid-Wales was built, there was a different Charles on the throne, America was a British colony and France still had a king.
While time changed all around it, the Crown and Anchor has stayed much the same since the 17th century. But that long spell of history ended abruptly in May, when a COVID-19 hangover, rising prices and high energy costs meant that landlord John Fitzpatrick was forced to call last orders.
The final straw was changing customer habits: Locals had stopped coming out for drinks. While his pub was stalling, Fitzpatrick noticed that a nearby spot was booming: The beer shop next door had sales that "were up year on year,” he says. "Drinking habits and going out changed in lockdown — people got used to staying in.”