The Packet

96 Bute Street, Cardiff Bay [map]


It's a pub's pub, this: a wilfully shabby throwback to a pre-gentrified Tiger Bay. As such, we've never seen a less appropriate use of fairy lights.


Difficult to know where to start with this photo, really. There's the lesser spotted pint pot. There's that jar of pickled eggs (retro pub food excelsis). There's even one of those old fashioned brass hooters perched to the left of the spirits.

But it's the lampshades that we're really drawn to. You just don't get tassel-based light adornments like that in All Bar One.


Another view of the bar and, more importantly, those lampshades.


While everyone's watching sport on the big screens around the bar, this little lounge area affords a more relaxed vibe. Well, as relaxed a vibe as it's possible to have in the company of that carpet.