Surveyed
The British Lion sits on the roundabout where the A361, A360 and A342 meet in Devizes, in a building once known as the Flitch of Bacon and recorded under its current name by 1897. Michael Dearing has run the pub as a genuine free house since 1997, and it describes itself as the only privately owned, landlord-operated public house left in Devizes. Four handpumps pour a rotating selection of real ales with no permanent fixtures, alongside West Country cider. There is no kitchen, no television and no gaming machines, just crisps, nuts and conversation in a bar with wooden floors and old settles. The pub has appeared in the Good Beer Guide continuously since 1995.