I wonder if this is a bit of a 'Maltsters' style story. There were rumours that the Maltsters in Llandaff was turning into a restaurant, whereas in practice it's merely been a renovation, albeit one that means it's more focused on food, and is more gentrified etc, something the Pen n Wig doesn't need.

Is there anyway the public can get involved in this petition. The Pen and Wig is a good pub that rotates its ales. Last thing we need is another frigging restaurant.

I dont know if there is an online version, just heard about the one on the bar. Excuse for a drink I suppose...

I can't believe it doesn't make money, but obviously someone at HQ has decided it can make MORE money as a restaurant.

In any case, it's a great pub (despite being a relatively young one), and deserves to remain so.

Next forum night out? We can all sign the petition. The Vulcan still exists and I'm sure the patronage of the CWM alcoholics helped there!

Could be persuaded....














....rather easily in fact.

Incognito might be a bit of a stretch. Isn't it now the Cardiff Arts Institute? Still somewhere I'd like to visit, mind.


OK. Itinerary as follows:

7pm. Meet in the Oystercatcher for a couple.

7.45pm Leave the Oystercatcher and walk across Pont y Werin and across the Taff viaduct.

8.15pm. Arrive at Terra Nova. Couple more.

8.54pm. Train from Cardiff Bay

8.57pm Arrive at Queen St

9.05pm Somewhere on Windsor Place

9.45pm Somewhere on Park Place

10.15pm until closing - Pen and Wig.


Job done

Of course, we are also supposed to be christening the new bridge with a pint at the Oystercatcher as well!

A packed itinerary awaits.

There is an application to turn the Crofts pub in Roath into offices. Another one bites the dust.

Seems the situation with the pen and wig might not be too bad after all:


http://hintofsarcasm.com/2010/07/03/pen-and-wig-closure/

Well, if that's the case then it has my seal of approval (as if anyone cares). Doubling the number of real ales can only be a good thing in my completely biased opinion.

Still a good itinerary for the night out, though. Just means we won't get to sign a petition.

rumour on Twitter that Cow and Snuffers in Llandaff closing.

The Duke of Wellington in the Hayes looks like its close to re-opening. Its kinda a mix of traditional boozer and contemporary bar from what I could see at a distance. Old look wood can be seen, but so can wine-bar-ish light shades. Still not finished, I think it'll prob be nice but not amazing. But probably better than it was, which is most important...

Looks like the Billabong is going to be renamed the Pear Tree. Not sure what the significance of that is - I would have placed money on it being called The Globe.

There's already a live music venue round the corner called the globe.

Doh! Note to self - please think about things before posting on public forums as potentially you could make yourself look like a dick.....

23 Womanby Street (Toucan / Calcultta / Whatever else its been) is being converted to B1 offices, subject to planning permission.

I guess nobody else wants to have another crack at making a club of it - it doesn't have the best track record!

There is an Arabic bar/restaurant sort of thing on City Road now, not sure if it's open yet or not, but it's where Dirty Sue's used to be. The exterior is quite colourful and goes well with Lilo's next door, brightens up the street a bit!

I was sad to see the Toucan go, but I'm not sorry to see the owner deciding enough is enough and to convert this cursed venue into offices.

It's worth also linking this into the original licensing decision to not allow the Toucan to operate from the old Staff Club building.

Due to a few handful of objections we now have two large empty properties in an historic part of the city centre, and a dozen or so people without jobs.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/08/03/alcohol-free-pub-plan-for-city-centre-wins-support-91466-26983458/

Is it just me or does this sound like a barmy no-hope idea? Kids want to go to pubs because of the alcohol and it will be tres uncool to go somewhere and drink alcohol-free beer, cider and champagne.

It does sound a bit "out there". I think it's a good idea in principle.

I'm no teetotaler, I've done the whole "flagon of White Lightning on a park bench" thing. I agree that this won't appeal to the vast bulk of teenagers.

I can see it populated by adults on lunch breaks and those who don't drink alcohol for whatever reason (Muslims etc.) who might otherwise miss out on the traditional British/Welsh "night out".

If they can offer some tasty/imaginative alternatives to alcohol (fruit juice cocktails etc.) rather than just non-alcoholic replicas of alcoholic drinks and no competition springs up (i.e. Church groups) I don't see why it couldn't succeed.

Sounds like a "nice man" judging by the paragraph:

"Mr Crosby previously ran a company which sold tortoises and other reptiles but lost it last year when he pleaded guilty to animal welfare charges and was banned from owning and dealing in animals"

You mean rat-arsed

Hi,
Just noticed this job advert for the old billabong/new pear tree. Gives a bit on info about the new place - seems its to be a cafe bar in a very similar mould to the Juno Lounge just around the corner....

PEAR TREE CAFE BAR – Roath (Formally Bar Billabong)
OPENING SEPTEMBER 2010


Following the success of the Lime Tree in Chepstow, We are opening a new tree café bar concept, through a major development of the former Bar Billabong site which is located right on Albany Road in the heart of Roath.


An informal friendly and relaxed atmosphere, catering for a diverse range of occasions including breakfasts, coffee mornings, business lunches, shopper breaks, afternoon chill-outs, post-work drinks, relaxed dinners or evenings out with friends!


Our offer includes a comprehensive but informal food menu with strong emphasis on daily specials, a range of interesting continental beers, great wines, bean-to-cup barista coffee, fresh smoothies and freshly squeezed fruit juice, Open from 8.30am to 11pm with food and drink to cater for all occasions throughout the day
Customer service excellence is at the heart of the offer and will be the talking point of our new concept!
Where better to work than a Café by day and social bar by night giving you just the right mix of day and night.

Sounds nice (esp as i live very close) but can see it possibly struggling for custom next summer with the juno lounge and its roof terrace already established.

p.s. hello, im new here

I think the Wellfield Rd/Albany Rd area is becoming a bit of a destination in it's own right. The Juno lounge is excellent, then there is the Globe and the Claude plus any number of restaurants. The Pear Tree looks to be cashing in on the local demographis as well and must be better than Billabong (surely)? The Albany is not a million miles away either for the more traditional supping experience.

It was mooted - some time ago now - that the either the church or the church hall opposite the Globe centre was to be convered into a bar as well. Not sure if the plans have been ditched or even got off the ground.

I recently received an email about a new pub opening on Cathedral Road called the Cricketers. On closer inspection it appears that it isn't a new pub rather that Y Cadno is changing it's name (it's located at the same building - 66 Cathedral Rd).

Also it looks as though planning permission will be granted for a Marston's pub next to the Cardiff City stadium. I suspect it will be food orientated and I can't see it attracting that many punters from the more boisterous outlets in Canton other than families.

Application to turn the Landsdowne pub into 14 flats. It's by the same guy who has redeveloped the Maindy/North Star and the End/Vulcan (I think). His modus operandii appears to be taking ailing pubs and giving them a makeover whilst also getting it to pay for itself by turning the non pub bits into flats. I hope this is the case with the Landsdowne.

It seems to have worked for the North Star which on the one occasion I have been was very well supported despite it being mid week and the Vulcan which although is perhaps a bit self conscioulsy left field in it's decor is a massive, massive improvement on the End.

Planning permission has been given for the demolition of the Grosvenor in Splott. Inevitble I suppose but still sad. We held my grandfathers wake in there.

According to Walesonline the Cardiff Arms in Railway St has also shut. That's the Moorland, Grosvenor, Locomotive, Tredegar, New Dock, Great Eastern, Moira, Rumpoles, Cardiff Arms, Ruperra all gone in Splott/Adamsdown in the last few years. I'm not sure if the Bertram and the Old Airport are still open.

I know it's the same up and down the country but I wonder why pub closures have been so savage in Splott - a traditional working class area where you would think pubs would thrive? Has going out to the pub become a middle class hobby? Or a middle aged hobby? What do all the people who used to go to the pub in the evening do hese days? Drink in front of the telly or the internet?

Bertram is still open, the old airport has been closed for a while.

A lot of people do indeed drink at home nowadays, and there is some evidence from expenditure surveys that people lower down the income scale are cutting back on their alcohol consumption more generally.

Pubs blame things like alcohol duty but that doesn't make sense. The duty is not a percentage of the price, its a fixed monetary amount. So it makes a much greater proportion of the cost of shop-bought drink than it does pub-bought. On a pint of beer, duty is something like 40 - 45p, so a hefty part of the price you pay in Tesco but only a small part of what you pay in a pub.

Has there been rapid demographic change in Adamsdown / Splott. Pubs close rapidly if an areas population changes and the incomers don't frequent the same bars as the old residents. It can happen either when an area gentrifies, or if a large Asian population moves in.

I don't think there has been much of a demographic shift. The ethnic population is fairly small (larger in Adamsdown than Splott). I imagine that there a few students who live in Adamsdown who would drink in more student areas. I think the area is less 'traditional' working class than it was. In a sense that there are less people working in manufacturing etc.

I suspect that people have one or two big nights out a week now and the proximity to the city centre means that you would go there rather than the local. Gone are the days when people would wander over to the pub at about 9 each night for a couple of pints and a game of darts. I agree that alcohol duty is the same but giants like Tesco can sell beer almost at a loss leader which makes it incredibly difficult for pubs to compete on price alone. Many pubs bemoan the smoking ban but is that really such a factor?

I bemoan the closure of pubs but I'm as hypocritical as the next man. If I go out for a drink I usually go out after work in the city centre. I rarely use my local other than in the summer. I do have a number of young kids which impacts on my ability to go out (although that never stopped my old man).

The drinking habits of young people in general these days basically consists of beeing teetotal all week and then going into the town center to get smashed at the weekend. I think this is the main reason for the death of the local boozer. Students are the main mid week drinkers in Cardiff and so it's really only those areas who are immune to this.

I've lived in Splott for a year and am known to have the occasional tipple but I have only ventured into The Cottage, The Splottlands, The Royal Oak, Old Illts Rugby Club and The Bertram once each I think, spending only a few quid each time. Wheras I must spend hundereds in Copa alone every year!

Planning permission has been requested to turn the closed pub the Old Airport into a Chinese Takeaway/Restaurant.

Sorry to hear that the Cardiff Arms has closed. Somewhat ironic that the Splott Conservative Club is amongst the few surviving watering holes in Splott.

The Bute Dock in the Bay in Mount Stuart Square (sometimes referred to as the oldest pub/building in the Bay???) has also shut its doors.

The windows are all boarded up with metal sheeting.

Cardiff Barfly has suddenly closed down:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-11156364

Announcement expected "soon"

Some news about the Lansdowne in Canton -

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/09/04/landsdowne-landlord-stages-solo-lock-in-91466-27198270/

It has been bought by the owner of the North Star and Vulcan with a view to having residential flats above and a bar on the ground floor.

I'm glad it will stay as a pub of some sort. This business model must be working. Perhaps it could be replicated elsewhere to stem the tide of pub closures?

The Barfly announcement was that it has closed for good. Where will the indy kids hang out now? Hm, I guess they cant have been hanging out there anyway if it closed.

Anyway, another reconfiguration of the cardiff live music scene. Barfly was quite important a few years back for bringing in bands.

Apparently, the barfly's all over the country closed, including Liverpool, Brighton and Glasgow, which does suggest a trend that something wasn't right with the company.

I heard rumours of it being taken on. It's a cracking little venue.

Planning committee docs confirm interest of Brasserie Blanc in the Ebenezer Chapel on Charles Street. However it describes the developer as "fostering interest from..", suggesting its not a shoe-in yet.

Also, another planning app for the proposed pub by the new stadium.

I went in the new DUke of Wellington today. Great pub, good beers and good ambience. A little new I suppose, but I can see it going from a pub I never went to, to one I'll go to a fair bit.

Does anybody know what the plans are for the three arches on Rhydypenau Road (Or is it Heathwood Road?)?

Brains were advertising for a manager for there recently with 'premium bar experience' so I guess something a bit up market.

I've noticed a lot of activity in The Point recently. Not sure what it is, but perhaps we might hear something soon?

Maybe the Mama group, who owned Barfly and a chain of bigger-than-barfly venues with the HMV branding, closed the old venue to expand into this one.

That is 100% wild speculation.

Something called Cote-Brasserie is opening where 'The Bay' CHinese restaurant was (overlooking the oval basin)

http://www.cote-restaurants.co.uk/Index.html