Brief: To refurbish and rejuvenate the spirit that was Browns Hotel circa 1940 –1950, the old drinking hole of literary legend Dylan Thomas.

Laugharne has a variety of places to stay, but unique among these Browns Hotel draws on a superior provenance to attract the worldwide Dylan Thomas fan base. During his time in Laugharne, Dylan would spend his mornings writing in the shed above the Boat House and then walk the short distance to his favourite pub; the white washed 18th century Browns Hotel. There, he would sit in his regular corner to ‘moulder’ as he called it and write. Browns became such a regular haunt that Dylan apparently gave the phone number to people who needed to contact him.

A fundamental aspect of the design was to avoid any ill conceived, clumsily realised pastiche of that era. The richness of atmosphere that so inspired Dylan came from the people that called it home, not from its décor. The challenge was to refresh, not reinvent. To summon up the drinking, talking, laughing, shouting, fighting, writing, ghosts of the past and, guided by their essence, create a space that could once again be called home to the ‘moulderers’ of the future.

Reclaimed wooden bars and settles, iron column radiators, slate and Welsh wool - all traditional materials with an inherent integrity and timelessness and all would be employed to achieve this.