Brilliant stories from the pubs and clubs of the Valleys

The Valleys .... they are beautiful, they are unique and they are full of wonderful Welsh boozers. Some pubs may have changed over the years but when you visit them you’ll always find one thing – laughter. Here are some of the wonderful tales to have emer

The time a hearse turned up at the Windsor Hotel This story, told by Anne Murphy who once ran the Windsor Hotel in Merthyr Vale, dates back to 1999.

She was preparing food for the ladies’ darts team when her daughter shouted up from the bar to tell her there were lots of people pulling up outside the pub towing caravans.

Anne said the party was led by a hearse with a coffin covered in paper flowers.

She said: “I ran down to find the pub full of men swigging pints, women who wanted cups of tea and lots of kids.

“They were all very neatly dressed and their parents were in funeral attire.”

The former landlady said it turned out to be a great night and people kept calling the pub as they thought an event might have been going on.

“I’ve had customers’ ashes on my bar for their last pint but never an actual hearse outside,” added Anne.

“We sang old Irish songs together before they headed on towards Fishguard for the ferry.

“They took the corpse – old guy in the hearse – back home for the ceremonial burning of the caravan.

“All seemed well after they left until I went to feed the fish in the tropical tank – and they had all vanished.” The night a rugby team helped a man home It’s often that a landlord has to cater for a rugby team in the Valleys.

One woman told us the tale of a local team – who wish to remain anonymous – that got into a bit of a pickle when they were drinking at another team’s pub.

She said the story goes that an old man was playing a piano. To ensure he kept going, the lads kept buying him beer.

But by the end of the night he was starting to look a bit worse for wear.

“At the end of the night he couldn’t walk, so they decided to take home,” she said.

“As they were leaving him, his wife came out and asked where his wheelchair was.” him The night Tom stole a turkey Sir Tom Jones is said to have caused a scene at a local boozer when he was accused of stealing a chicken more than 50 years ago.

He and his bandmates were banned from Fochriw near Caerphilly when the bird went missing in 1963.

According to a member of Fochriw Social Club, The Voice judge walked off with an oven-ready chicken that they were hoping to use as a raffle prize.

But in 2010, he told the Mirror that the story wasn’t quite true.

“It was a turkey!” he admitted.

He said: “We were on stage when a fight broke out in the club and everyone just went mad.

“I saw this turkey sitting there on top of a hamper and thought, ‘I’ve got to have that’.”

The club decided to lift the ban in 2010. A man whose head was used as a birthday cake One man, who has asked not to be identified, told us he nearly went up in flames when he was celebrating his birthday at the Cilfynydd Inn many moons ago.

At the pub, which is now closed, his friend stuck around 12 cocktails sticks in his head before lighting them ready for guests to sing happy birthday.

He said: “The landlady had to put them out for me. She had to throw an ice bucket of water over me as my skin was burning, but I was so p***ed I couldn’t feel it.” Acting the goat on a mile-long pub crawl Also in Cilfynnydd, a group of lads embark on an annual village pub crawl.

The event takes place on New Year’s Day when they take part in a challenge known as “The Mile”. Back in 2017 the boys decided to take on a military theme – and someone turned up with a goat.

We’re told the animal only made a short appearance and was safely returned home before the crawl got well and truly under way. The time George Best stayed out too late in the Rhondda Robert Harris, 63, ran The Griffin in Pentre from 1988-2000.

The pub was kept under his watchful eye for 12 years and he has hundreds of tales to tell about the pub – he still lives a few hundred yards around the corner from it.

According to the former landlord, the pub has seen many famous faces through the decades, including Welsh rugby player Robert Jones and boxers Robbie Regan and Howard Winstone.

But, perhaps, one of the most memorable moments was when footballer George Best turned up for a pint.

He stayed for so long he ended up getting locked out of his hotel.

“I actually had him up twice,” Robert said.

“I booked him to come up for an event to raise money for the boys’ clubs.

“After the event I asked him to come to the pub with me.

“For some reason the taxi I booked for him didn’t turned up, so I dropped him back to the Heritage Park Hotel but he couldn’t get in.

“I dropped him off and it was locked. He was banging the window to get in – George Best was walking up the bypass.

“In the end a porter saw him and opened the door – it must have been about one o’clock in the morning.