The White Cross Inn, Caerphilly, famous for Doctor Who

In the latest of our series, we go to Caerphilly and the village of Groeswen where we pay a visit to The White Cross Inn.

The pub sits next to the Groeswen Chapel and has lovely views of Caerphilly town centre.

Landlady Mair Arthur and her then-husband opened the White Cross Inn opened in 1999 before it was leased out for ten years.

Ms Arthur returned to run the pub in 2011 since her divorce and the pub has become a beacon of the community.

Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) outside the White Cross inn which features in latest Doctor Who episode '73 yards'. Picture: BBC (Image: BBC)She said: “I bought it twenty-five years ago and it was leased out for ten years, but when me and my husband got divorced in 2011, I have run it on my own ever since.

“The driving force for me is that we have taken it from one cask ale a fortnight when I came in, to between ten and 14 casks a week.”

The pub doesn’t serve food, but it makes up for it with its community spirit and is known for being the home of Welsh country dancing.

The pub has been named CAMRA Pub of the Year runner-up on numerous occasions and has been included in the Good Beer Guide for the last 12 years consecutively.

It also featured in a recent episode of Doctor Who which was filmed in December 2022, which saw the pub closed for a week due to filming.

It's known for it's range of cask ales. Picture: Mair Arthur (Image: Mair Arthur)She added: “I was thrilled that the BBC chose my pub, the whole process was very interesting to watch.

“The detail was miraculous; you know the action everybody knew what they were doing it was brilliant.

“They changed the pub name for filming to Y Pren Marw, which translates to the dead wood as it was meant to be spooky, and we have kept the sign up ever since.

“I watched the episode, and the pub looks good in it to be fair.”