Queen's Vaults

29 Westgate Street, Cardiff [map]


While much of this part of Westgate Street is being taken over by trendy bars of varying quality, the Queen's Vaults remains resolutely old school.


It's basically just a big drinking warehouse. It's not always this blurry, by the way - we'd had a few pints by this point.


If the promise of booze alone isn't enough to keep you occupied, there's a trio of pool tables, making this one of the few pubs in the centre of town in which you can kid yourself that you've got the cueing skills of Stephen Hendry (even if Stephen Hawking would be a more accurate comparison).

There's also a poker table and a really bizarre coin-op called Big Buck Hunter Pro, a depressing gun game that simulates the experience of sneaking up on deer and then shooting them in the head. It is, not surprisingly, big in America.


The food is terrifyingly cheap (a rump steak will set you back £4.75) but you don't come here to eat. With all those games on offer, the Queen's Vaults is basically a Wetherspoons with pub Olympics.