Urban Tap House

25 Westgate Street, Cardiff [map]

Stumble up Womanby Street these days and, before you reach the assorted pleasures of The Gatekeeper and Dempseys, there's beer-and-burgers emporium Urban Tap House.

It was opened in September by Newport microbrewery Tiny Rebel and, as the signage suggests, it's very much from the craft-beer-as-hipster-accessory school.

As you can see, The Photographer's camera - such as it is - doesn't cope well with bright lights. But we forge ahead nonetheless. We are, after all, professionals. (Aside: we're not.)

There's none of yer Carlings and Carlsbergs here. It's all Camden Hells Lager, Dortmunder Union Vier and, er, Dirty Stop Out.

Which is both a delicious smoked oat stout and a harsh-but-fair appraisal of what happens when you drink, let's say for the sake of argument, nine pints of the stuff on an empty stomach. Not that we'd know anything about that sort of thing, you understand.

It's in the same premises as Fire Island (above) used to be. Tiled bar aside, Urban Tap House is, in many ways, very similar to its predecessor - albeit without debts of £1.2m.

There's some sort of cask ales thing going on during our visit, which takes us well out of our comfort zone - who can even guess at what Buxton American Rye entails? But when we discover they're all going for £2.50 a pint, it seems churlish not to get involved.

We may be many things but churlish isn't one of them.

This is one of those arcade machines that houses loads of retro classics, including Space Invaders - here being played absolutely appallingly. The trick, apparently, is to take out the columns of aliens at the ends first.

More tips on 35-year-old videogames coming soon.

Round the side of the bar and you've got these little diner-style booths. Turns out they're not that easy to manoeuvre into following the consumption of a miscellany of cask ales and nine pints of Dirty Stop Out.

Y Fuwch Goch

Womanby Street, Cardiff [map]


Y Fuwch Goch marks a first in the short history of Pint of 45 in that its management actually asked for the bar to be reviewed - and even offered to furnish us with free drinks in the process.

Let's make one thing absolutely clear though. Anyone who suggests that we're prepared to bypass our journalistic integrity for the sake of a couple of pints of complimentary lager would be absolutely right.


Y Fuwch Goch - it's Welsh for The Red Cow - is operated by the same people who run Clwb Ifor Bach over the road. Hence the totally unpronounceable name.

There's a limited choice of draughts, although if you're a fan of mid-market lagers - and we are - you're well served by Amstel (which weighs in at a very reasonable £2.50 a pint) and Heineken. A bit classier than the Carlings of this world but a few pints won't leave you hopelessly twisted.


We were there pretty early on in the evening, so not much happening just yet. But there are regular gigs and comedy nights - although the latter will be slightly lost on you if you don't speak Welsh.


We have some concerns regarding the procedure for ordering food. "Tick the box to choose your meal!" enthuses the menu. It all sounds so simple.

But what if two people - to quote Belinda Carlisle - want the same thing? What if you don't have a pen? What if you have just lost both your hands in a bizarre gardening accident and, even if you did have a pen, couldn't use it anyway? It's a logistical nightmare.


It's on the same site as the old Horse & Groom but you'd never recognise it as such. With its exposed brickwork, stripped floorboards, comfy sofas and distinct lack of windows, it's like a particularly well-appointed booze dungeon.