Lion Hotel, Blaenavon

The Lion was transformed before opening its doors again to the public at the end of May 2014. With help from local authority funding the aim was to provide the town with a quality hotel venue for visitors to the local world heritage sites (e.g. Big Pit, Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway) as well as a place for locals to enjoy. It has succeeded. The interior is tastefully decorated with much use made of light wood, soft furnished seating and shades of mauve and lilac in the colour scheme. The restaurant is on a lower level but the upper level is also geared to take diners. Contemporary artwork and pictures promotes Blaenavon's world heritage status. One corner of the bar has a solid fuel burner with sofa seating. The menu offers a tempting choice of pub favourites among others but with the chef's own twist on familiar dishes. The guest beer may sometimes be a house ale from Tomos a Lilford.Below street level is a Wellness Suite with sauna, massage chair, heated lounger, steam room etc. Note breakfast is served from 8-10am. A snapshot of the hotel's history can be found on an outside wall when the premises was caught up in a riot of 1868 when the local populace disagreed with a General Election result!