A SURPRISE awaited the new owners of The Elan Hotel in Rhayader when they started redecorating the premises ready for the hotel’s reopening two weeks ago.

Lurking under the wallpaper in one of the main bar areas was a huge painting of Trev the Trout – the biggest trout caught by local man Trevor Jones.

The discovery was made after the new landlord Martin McDaid brought in five decorators to give the hotel a quick lick of paint before throwing open the hotel’s doors on Wednesday, March 28.

Once the fish was found a big debate then ensued on the hotel’s Facebook page over whether the painting should be covered over again or kept in its position above the pub’s fireplace.

A message was posted on the page, which read: “Big debate going on here regarding Trevor the trout – should he stay or should he go?! You decide, if we can get 1500 likes on his photo, we will keep him. Pop in on Wednesday to see if he is still here!”

The story of Trev the Trout is that he was caught in 2009 by Mr Jones who lives next door to the hotel in West Street. The rainbow trout, the biggest Trevor has ever caught, weighed in at a huge 17lbs 6oz.

To mark the event Donald Dickens, a previous owner of The Elan Hotel, had the painting of Trev the Trout put up over the pub’s fireplace.

Although many of the regulars at the Elan Hotel knew the story of Trev, they had forgotten about it until the wallpaper was ripped down and he was laid bare.

New landlord Martin, who hails originally from Donegal in Ireland but now lives in Penybont, said he had brought in a team of five decorators to give the premises a new coat of paint, while friends and family pitched in helping to scrub the bare floors and carpets ready for the reopening.

He said: “We were truly surprised to find the painting of a trout on the wall over the fireplace and immediately put out an appeal on our Facebook page for more information and then ran a poll of Facebook users to see if it should stay. The overwhelming response was that it should.”

The message Martin put on Facebook said: “Look what we’ve just uncovered – would like to know why we have a rainbow trout hidden under the wallpaper, would love to know who the artist is and when it was done.”

Martin said the painting of Trev was cleaned up using the tried and trusted method of “sugar soap” and then one of the decorators carefully painted round the picture adding lettering saying when the fish was caught and how heavy it was.

Next-door neighbour Trevor, who is known locally as Trevor Trout, was then invited to admire the painters’ handiwork ahead of the pub’s reopening.

Trevor said: “They did a fabulous job. I remember when it was painted after I gave the trout, the biggest I’ve ever caught, to Mr Dickens. He was so pleased he got an artist to do the painting and then they showed it to me as a surprise. Now they’ve made a big thing of it in Facebook and got the 1500 likes saying to keep the fish really quickly.”

Trevor, who is 75 and retired, has been an angler for most of his life and has represented Wales at fishing internationally.

The biggest fish he has ever caught is a salmon weighing 37lb but Trev the Trout, which he caught at the Chirck Trout Fishery near Wrexham, is his biggest rainbow trout.

New owner Mr McDaid said he moved to the UK 40 years ago and worked as a telecoms engineer, eventually becoming a telecoms consultant.

For years his job involved travelling and staying in hotels, which gave him the idea of running his own hotel.

He met his partner, Iris Anderson, in North Wales 13 years ago. Iris, who is from Northern Ireland, had experience working at the Cornhill pub in Rhayader, so it seemed logical for the pair to run their own hotel together. Following the hotel’s reopening the pair now plan to reopen the hotel kitchen. To that end they have advertised for kitchen staff already and are merely awaiting certification for their kitchen equipment before they start serving hot food.