Cardiff Pubs
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
This is The Iron Man's definitive list of all the pub's I've been to in Cardiff. If ever you end up in Cardiff (no bad thing) then I hope you will find this guide useful. If, however, you wind up in Hertford, then you'll have to read my nice new pub guide, it's great as well.
So, here they are then, in no particular order, the pubs in Cardiff that I've been in.
The Scrum
The Scrum is the first pub you come to in the town centre as you approach from Colum Road. It has a sports theme, and is quite modern. The street-facing wall is basically all window, and there is half a VW Beetle under the stairs, in which you can sit and watch whatever sporting event is on at the time. Upstairs, which is kind of balcony-like, there are some booths, which have individual tv's in. When a major event is on, you have to book these.
I'm not the most sport-loving person ever, so this isn't my favourite pub, but the happy hour lasts for about three hours, and it's a pound for selected pints, which isn't bad. Unfortunately, they don't serve Guinness, so I have to make do with John Smiths.
Bar Burges
Bar Burges is a new pub, and is open from Thursday to Saturday, but is open until one in the morning on all of those nights. The downstairs, is basically a big room with a square bar in the middle. It's quite noisy down here, and we don't spend much time on the ground floor.
Climb the grand staircase, however (I think the building used to be a church - its smell is reminiscent of my time at Sunday School) and there's a nice quiet bit. It has its own miniature bar, with a seated area that has arcade games in, and a gaming area, which is basically a couple of pool tables. It plays MTV all the time, unless there's a major sporting event on (basically rugby, as far as I know). Again, this place doesn't sell Guinness.
**STOP PRESS**
I think Bar Burges has closed now, but I'll leave this here as a little reminder of the fun had in the pool room bit. ::sniff::
The Woodville
In the early days, The Woodville, or Woodies, used to be our local. Being a Scream pub, it's good for cheap booze, which is just about all a student could ask for. It's on two levels - street level, and a basement, which opens out into a "beer garden". Not many gardens, beer or not, however, have concrete lawns. But never mind.
This pub is quite good, particularly for its cheap booze, but it's often crowded and it doesn't serve Guinness. One member of our retinue, Irish John, has branded it Hades, and has a theory that Satan's Brew (ie lager) is brewed in the loft.
The Macintosh
This pub is fecking marvellous. It serves Guinness, and has comfortable seats. Guinness here is more expensive only than the Student Union bars and clubs, but it isn't watered down stuff. At £2.15 a pint, it's more expensive than most beers, but you have to pay for quality these days.
There's a good atmosphere in this pub, which has two distinct sections - a bar and a lounge. I never have worked out the difference between the two, in general not just at this pub. One bit, the smallest bit, is your traditional seats, beer and jukebox thing. The other, larger bit, has two projection tellies and therefore is always packed whenever there's a big football game on, but not when Coronation Street is on, oddly enough.
The Tafarn
The 'Taf' is the student union pub, and it therefore has a good atmosphere. The whole thing (from the inside at least) is made to look like a traditional Olde English tavern, hence the name presumably. It's big, and has a trivia machine, which I like. Unfortunately, although it's only £1.70 a pint, the Guinness tastes like someone's mixed vinegar or something with it. In the early days, we went here a lot, but now we don't.
Mulligans
Ths is an Irish pub, and therefore serves Guinness. I've only been in here once, on our Bad Clothing Pub Crawl. It was quite full, but it's a nice building, and if it was less busy (which I suspect it normally wuld be - we went in on a Friday night) would probably be quite pleasant to sit in and enjoy a quite pint of the black stuff.
O'Neills
This is another Irish pub, and also therefore serves Guinness. They draw a shamrock in the head. This pub has the accolade of being the first pub I went in as a student in Cardiff, and it's actually quite nice. I recommend that you go there. It has a "Craig-ometer" and everything.
Y Glasgen
This pub is a little weird. It is quite small, but its toilet is a long way back and up some stairs. It's not too bad, been in there only a couple of times though.The Firedrake and Firkin
Yes, it's a Firkin pub. This one's quite grand, its second floor is a kind of balcony thing, and the bar is mahoosive. Nice place for a fairly large group of people, but otherwise it can be a bit noisy.
The Prince of Wales
This is a Wetherspoons pub, and therefore has no music. It has two floors, and the pub itself is rather large. They serve Newcastle Brown Ale in bottles. Newcy Brown is the second best beer ever made, ever. Guinness is, obviously, the best beer ever made. This pub is nice if you want to eat out, since it has a nice large menu. Go here if you are a family, either that or you could try lunch at the legendary Canal Boat...
Blackweir Tavern (previously The Canal Boat)
Now renamed, after a major refit, this pub was the "local" in the 1st year, since it was literally closer than any other pub. I haven't been in there recently, but it's run by the same people so presumably it's still just as nice a place to go.
That's It, I'm Afraid
Well, that about wraps it up for pubs I've visited in Cardiff. If you're hanging around one day, wondering what to do, pop into the Canal Boat and you'll probably find us. Hope you have fun finding us.
By the way, for any Americans who might think I'm referring to Cardiff, Alabama or something, I'm afraid not. I mean Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK. It's a great place, so why don't you all come on holiday here next year?
If you want to find out more about our exclusive clique, why not check out our [URL removed by moderator] The bloke who did the site isn't me, though. See if you can guess who I am.
