Booze Brothers tribute to the Ladies of Llangollen

Now it has emerged that Anne was inspired to marry her by girlfriend by Llangollen's own lovers, who eloped to north Wales from Ireland to live together.

A new cocktail is being launched in honour of the two aristocratic women who scandalised 18th century society when they eloped together from settled at Plas Newydd in the town

Ladies’ Dee-light, being unveiled at the Llangollen Food Festival will celebrate the lives of the Ladies of Llangollen, Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby.

The new drink is the brainchild of two brothers who launched their mobile cocktail bar, Booze Brothers, just 12 months ago.

They are taking part in the festival on October 19 and 20 at the Llangollen Pavilion.

Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby lived were regarded as eccentric characters and the exact nature of their close relationship remains a talking point to this day.

There were visited by the likes of Wordsworth, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott and Anne Lister who was inspired to go home and informally marry her own lover as a result.

Former personal trainer Gruff, 26, from Wrexham, said: “When we started out, the Llangollen Food Festival was one of those events in the calendar we really wanted to attend and we just kept our fingers crossed that everything would go well and we’d get there.

“We’ve been there plenty of times as visitors but this is completely different. We’re really excited to show off our skills and bring along our bespoke cocktail bar.

“To help mark our first anniversary and our first visit to Llangollen Food Festival as a business we wanted to do something really special, and the Ladies’ Dee-light will celebrate the legendary Ladies of Llangollen and another local icon, the River Dee and the town centre Dee Bridge."

“Although nobody knows for certain whether their relationship was a sexual one, the Ladies of Llangollen are revered today as icons for the LGBT+ community. We will be keeping the recipe secret until the new cocktail is launched at the food festival but we are keeping our fingers crossed it will be a hit.”

Gruff and former bartender Ieuan, 21, were asked to share their gin knowledge and expertise at the Garden Village Fete in Wrexham last year. They bought a gazebo and set up a makeshift bar with a range of specialist gins – and said it went down a treat.

“From there, we started receiving emails from festival organisers and local people in the area asking us whether we could set up the same stand at their event or in their back garden.”