The Nags Head (also spelled Nag's Head) is a historic pub on Mount Street in

Wrexham city centre Wrexham city centre is the administrative, cultural and historic city centre of Wrexham, in North Wales and is the area enclosed by the inner ring road of the city. It is the largest shopping area in north and mid Wales, and the administrative c ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. The current frontage dates to a 19th-century remodelling under the Soames family. The

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed building was also home to a brewery, known as the Nag's Head Brewery, which started brewing by 1834. The brewery and pub were purchased by Soames Brewery in 1879, who later remodelled the building and expanded the brewery in the adjacent area, including a brick chimney built to the building's rear. It became part of Border Breweries in 1931, and was acquired by

Marston's Brewery Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former Marston's plc breweries) and Britvic, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024. History In 2020, Ma ...

in 1984, with the brewery closing six months later, while the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

pub remains open as of 2023.

Description

The pub is located on the junction of Mount Street and Tuttle Street, in Wrexham city centre, and specialises in

British cuisine British cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the regional cuisines of English cuisine, England, Scottish cuisine, Scotland, Welsh cuisine, Wales, and Northern Irish cuisine, Nort ...

. It contains a beer garden and a car park. The building has a fully surrounded central bar which served multiple drinking and dining areas. In the upper floors of the building lies a large function room which historically served as the Border Brewery boardroom, which now serves as a venue for private events, including regular monthly events. The building had historically brewed its own beer. During its remodelling in the late 19th century, the building adopted a

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

revival style although becoming less vigorous over time. A photograph is said to show the building being much more boldly enriched, with decorative framing, gothic-traced windows and an embattled

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

, than the building is today, with extra decoration said to be later removed. The two-storey building's exterior is of lined out render to the ground floor, possible brick above. It has a

slate roof Roofing slates are roofing tiles made out of slate. The rock is split into thin sheets which are cut to the requires size before shipment. This contrasts to slabs which are milled to produce larger structural components. They are the primary produ ...

, three-window range and a central entrance. The rear ranges to each side of the building was formerly part of Border Brewery. The building was thought to house a pipe running from the brewery directly into the bar, although it is said to actually run to the bottling plant which was located behind the pub.

History

A building on the site dates to 1661, and was originally the site for the "Nag's Head Brewery", which started a minor brewing operation in 1834. From 1834 to 1874, the brewers of the pub were William and Thomas Rowlands. In a newspaper advert in 1847, it was announced that "Rowland of the Nag's Head" had put up a wooded pavilion for the upcoming race days, in which he would sell his ale, with

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, wines and spirits. In the 19th century, some

inquests An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

were held at the inn, including an inquest of a three-year-old girl in January 1873. It later became part of the premises of Soames Brewery being bought by Frederick W. Soames in 1879, who expanded the brewery into a major industry. Under Soames ownership in , the building's frontage was remodelled, although elements from the earlier structure were also likely incorporated during the remodelling. Soames also installed a new plant and increased cellarage. A tall brick chimney, red-brick brew-house and office block was also built behind the pub in 1894, and serves as a modern-day relic of the Soames ownership. Soames Brewery merged with Island Green Brewery and Dorsett Owen (Oswestry) to form Border Breweries in 1931, who remained based at the site. The brewery and pub were bought by

in 1984, with the brewery closed 6 months later and Marston's still operating the pub as of 2023. In 2002, an oil painting of the pub by H.R. Chapman bought for £3,500 in an auction. A bidding clash occurred for the painting between an art collector and Wrexham Museum, with the collector outbidding the museum. In 2021, the pub was described as the "best in Wrexham", following a public competition launched by local MP

Sarah Atherton Sarah Elizabeth Atherton (born 15 November 1967) is a former British Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wrexham between 2019 and 2024. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defen ...

. In 2022, the pub raised over £1,000 for a local charity. The Wrexham Folk & Acoustic Club is also based in the pub. In July 2023, 33 cases of

salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...

were connected to the pub, although the exact source of transmission was not identified. Following the outbreak Marston's deep cleaned the pub and tested staff to prevent any more infections.

Description

History

References

Further reading