Cardiff Bay pub gets £1.25M makeover

Some news from SA Brain

Iconic venue to get £1.25M makeover

Terra Nova, the Brains-owned Mermaid Quay pub, has closed ahead of a major four month refurbishment.

After trading for 12 years as Terra Nova, the site closed on Sunday 13^th December ahead of a major development program that will see one and a quarter million pounds invested in creating an iconic site.  An extensive period of guest research has informed the development of a modern new venue that is expected to open in late April 2016 and ready for the summer trading period.

Commenting on the development, Bruce Newman, Group Head of Marketing at Brains said, “Terra Nova has been a hugely successful business for Brains over the years, however, our guest research indicated the need for change.  It was very apparent that users of the Bay felt that Terra Nova had become dated and failed to make the most of its stunning waterside location.  We’ve tested a number of different ideas, with guests clamouring for a high quality, premium bar with a strong and unique food offer.  Our plans to meet that need are at an advanced stage and the team are confident that the new business will become a favourite of Bay visitors.”

The transformation will see new glazing to further expose views of Cardiff Bay and flood the internal space with natural light, a stunning new island bar and an internal scheme that will open up the ground and first floor space.  Upon completion, Brains expect to host at least 400 guests for casual dining in addition to those visiting to enjoy a re-launched premium drinks offer.

The venue will also carry a new name, The Dock, acknowledging the heritage and uniqueness of its Cardiff Bay location and the interior design scheme will tell guests the story of Cardiff Bay, with a modern eclectic twist.

Looking ahead to the opening Graham Wheatley, Manager of The Dock commented, “The Dock will without doubt be the go to venue within Cardiff Bay.  A superb range of food and drink and a stunning new interior are already progressed.  Critically, the highly skilled team required to make the guest experience truly exceptional is currently being recruited.  I can’t wait to get the doors open and welcome guests to the business next April.”

Follow progress on The Dock on Twitter @brainsbrewery and Facebook

Brains to open new pub under Cardiff Bay

Brains – Wales largest brewer and pub operator
– is set to open the UK’s first underwater pub in
Cardiff Bay.
Aqua Nova will be situated five metres below the
surface and accessed via a jetty, located a short
water taxi ride from its sister pub, the Brains-
owned Terra Nova. With panoramic views of the
Bay, the aquarium style venue will offer
customers a once in a lifetime experience.
Bruce Newman, head of marketing at Brains,
said: “Customers are always looking for
something new and different. Aqua Nova won’t
disappoint. As well as a great range of beers,
such as Brains’ All at Sea IPA, customers can
also look forward to a fresh seafood menu,
including Cardiff Bay fish of the day.”
Head of UK Naval Technologies, Captain Burt
Sye, has been working closely with Brains,
supervising the development. He added: “This is
a complex but revolutionary project and one that
is sure to be popular with the British pub goers.”
Work is due to start next month and it is
expected that the bar will be open in the summer
of 2015.
In the meantime, Brains is looking for volunteers
to be the first to test its beers underwater to
ensure they’re unaffected by changes in
pressure. Volunteers will wear specially adapted
dive suits, allowing them to sip a pint below sea
level. For more details, and to sign up, call
Brains on 029 2040 2060, quoting ‘Aqua Nova’.

Brains barmaid wins top award!

An employee of award-winning brewer SA Brain came top of the league last night, scooping the 'Barperson of the Year Award' at the Publican Awards in London. Rebecca Jones, team leader of the Terra Nova,on Mermaid Quay in Cardiff Bay beat contenders from across the UK to win this prestigious title.
I have to admit I am a fan of the Terra Nova and have reviewed it previously here.
It is by far the best pub in the Bay, the others suffer from poor beer quality and cleaniless problems on my visits there, yes I am referring to the Eli Jenkins, a pub that surely Mitchells & Butlers could improve by just getting the staff to clean the place regularly.
Back to the awards, Brains were the only Welsh winners last night, the full list is up on the Morning Advertiser site here.
Congratulations to Fullers, one of my favourite breweries who walked away with the Regional Brewer of the Year Award and Managed Pub Company of the Year Award.

Thousands attend the Bay for Food & Drink Festival

Cardiff Bay International Food Festival

The food festival held over last weekend was definitely one of the best I have been to. This year saw more local brewers involved than ever before with Pen-Lon, Neath, Otley, Kingstone, Celt Experience and Untapped all selling their bottled beers. It was the first chance I had to try the beers from Neath Ales and tried one at the festival, Green Bullet; a 6% IPA brewed with New Zealand hops and named after them. Brewed with Maris Otter malt, the biscuity malt flavour combines with the heavily hopped ale to produce a stunning beer. Also chatted to the owner Jay Thomas whose enthusiasm and passion for brewing really shows through in his beers. I look forward to trying more of his beers in the future, especially in cask as Neath Ales will be taking delivery of casks in a few weeks time. In the meantime their beers are available via Realbeerbox.

 Above: Some bottles from the beer range of Neath Ales

Above: Celt Experience beers

Above: the Untapped Brewery range

The Norwegian Church was the venue of the Otley brewery bar and their new Weissen Beer quickly sold out there. A naturally cloudy wheat beer brewed with 6 different hop varieties this was another refreshing beer from the hop heads of the valleys. Alongside O1, O5 and O-Garden the Otley beers proved extremely popular and the Norwegian Church, set in its own grounds was the perfect place to chill out with a pint and listen to the bands playing at the venue. The church also offers great views across the harbour.

 Above: The Norwegian Church and Otley Bar

Cidermakers were also well represented at the festival with a new bottled drink, Pyder – a blend  of cider and perry, being launched by the Gwatkin cider company and a 3 litre bag-in-the-box of Scrumpy from Gwynt Y Ddraig which will also be available in Tesco's very soon.

 Above: the new 3 litre box of Gwynt scrumpy

Ralph's cider also made an appearance and the stunning perries and wines from Wernddu also went down very well.

 Above: Gwatkin cider bar staff

The festival was extremely popular and the weather for once perfect and well done for Cardiff Council for organising such a great event.  Having attended this event down the Bay for many years, I did think this year was the best ever and is even starting to rival the Abergavenny Food Festival in terms of quality and enjoyment. One problem with the Abergavenny Festival is the increasing prices, both for the stallholders and the customers, as the Festival now employs staff all year round. Cardiff Council have shown it is possible to put on a successful and extremely popular food and drink festival with free entrance for all. Any chance of Newport Council now showing some initiative and supporting our artisan food and drink producers?

I did find time to enjoy myself despite helping out on the Gwatkin stand, here is a photo taken by Dom at Welsh Icons of me at the Festival:

 NB: All photographs are copyright of me or of Dom/Welsh Icons. I realise that there is a common thief out there on the internet who enjoys stealing photographs from the site, along with empty barrels from Welsh brewers. It's okay I realise you are a sad, twisted old thief, you do not have to continue to prove it to me or the rest of the world.

Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival

Pictured above: Denis Gwatkin at a very wet Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival 2009

This weekend sees the annual International Food & Drink Festival return to Cardiff Bay for 3 days of fantastic food and drink.

Amongst the exhibitors will be:

Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd - one of the greatest ciders in the world!
Direct Beers Ltd - that's the Dog Piss guy!
Gwynt y Ddraig Cider - Worlds best cider!
Spyder Ginger Beer - yes I know it's a soft drink but it's still good!
The Handmade Scotch Egg Company - The Chilli n chocholate egg is amazing!
Otley Brewery - Wales' best brewer
Celt Experience Brewery - Award-winning brewery from Caerphilly
Untapped Brewing Co - up and coming excellent brewery!
Wernddu Vineyard - the best wine in Wales!
Full list of exhibitors available here.

The venue for this event is the Oval Basin in the Bay, with stalls stretching up to the Norwegian Church.
Fri 9 & Sat 10 July 12 - 10pm
Sun 11 July 12 - 7pm
Roald Dahl Plass
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff
CF10 5AN

Google Map:


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How to get there:
By Cardiff Bus:
From central station, numbers 1, 2, Bay Car (6), 8 and 35 serve Cardiff Bay. Contact Cardiff Bus
By Arriva Trains:
services run to and from Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street. Contact Arriva Trains Wales
By Car:
Follow signs to Cardiff Bay or National Assembly of Wales

Terra Nova, Cardiff Bay

Terra Nova, Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, CF10 5BZ


Open 10-12 Monday-Thursday, 10-2 Friday-Saturday, 10-10.30 Sun. Food all day until 9pm

The Terra nova is one of the few examples of good twenty-first century pub architecture. Originally built as the Via Fossa, SA Brain transformed this pub when they bought it in 2003, renaming it after the ship that left Cardiff Docks to take Captain Scott and his crew to the Antarctic on their ill-fated journey. The outline of the ship is used as the pub sign on the outside of the pub, which is attractively surrounded in wood.

The front of the pub is unmistakable as it forms a triangle, reminiscent of the bow of a ship and there is an upper, outside drinking area with views out across the bay and the towards Norwegian Church. The interior of the Terra Nova has is multi-level and has wooden staircases and an attractively carved mahogany wood bar and an odd collection of drinking seats, ranging from a lip-shaped settee to fake leopard-skin coverings, along with more traditional wooden chairs and tables. The Terra Nova is surprisingly spacious enough to cater for all tastes though and there are a number of tables and chairs for those customers wishing to drink outside. A pillar in the front of the bar is clad in wood and radiates wooden beams set into the stone-flagged floor, reminiscent of the capstan of an old sailing ship. Arches lead to the different drinking areas and the right hand section has a fresco of the Terra Nova ship in the Antarctic. The upper areas provide equally attractive drinking and dining areas as well as somewhere private if customers wish to have private conversations, useful as the bar is close to the Welsh Assembly. The Belfast-sink washbasins in the Gents toilets are a nice touch as well.

The real ales are from SA Brain and are served via their unique eye-level handpumps, which are reserved for their flagship pubs. The beers available are Bitter, Dark, SA and a seasonal ale, which at the moment is Land of My Fathers, a light-coloured ale that has an unusual flavour as it is brewed with Welsh honey. Gwynt Y Ddraig Welsh cider is also available in bottles.

Food is served all day and includes Celtic Pride lasagne and burgers along with 21-day matured steaks from beef cattle – no Zebu hybrids in this pub. Welsh cheeses also feature on the menu as well as bread made with Brain's SA and even Reverend James chutney. Fish dishes are also available with Brain's beer battered haddock and Sea Bass featuring. The range of deserts is also interesting with a Baked White Chocolate and Penderyn Whisky Tart or Welsh ice cream featuring.

An excellent place to dine and drink the Brains whilst watching the waves roll across the Bay, the Terra Nova is the highpoint of any visit to the Bay.
 

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Packet Hotel, Cardiff Bay

Quite a nice pub with the old Brains windows and a fantastic wooden gantry behind the bar. Brains Bitter and SA on here and the pub is a lot cleaner and friendlier than the unclean Eli across the road. A nautical theme to this Victorian pub but why not? It's been here longer than most of the buildings in the Bay. Seems to be the forgoton pub of Cardiff Bay.

Eli Jenkins, Cardiff Bay

As one of the closest pubs to the Welsh Assembly and Torchwood Headquarters you would expect this to be a good pub. Unfortunately or perhaps because of those reasons, Brew Wales found the place a bit of a shit hole. Only 2 real ales on; Brains Bitter and a very warm Caledonian Deuchars IPA. Infiderent staff, all 5 of them, who could have been better employed cleaning the sticky tables than hanging around the bar chatting. Brasswork on the handpumps could also do with a clean, won't even risk the food here due to general uncleaniness. Tatty seat coverings and the staff laughing at but not refusing to serve drunk customers add to the ambiance of this establishment. This pub could be a lot better if the owners tried a little bit.

Terra Nova, Cardiff Bay

Lets face it, there are few architectually stunning modern pubs in Wales. The SA Brain owned Terra Nova on Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay is however an exception. With its frontage resembling the prow of a ship, this split-level bar offers views of the bay and the Norwegian Church. The beers are served with Brains unique eye-level handpump, only used in their flagship pubs. The real ales are Bitter, SA, Dark and the seasonal ale, at the moment it is Land of My Fathers, a light-coloured 4% ale with a floral aroma and a pleasant, sweetish aftertaste with hints of vanilla. From those tasting notes you may guess there is something unusual in that beer and the special ingredient is Welsh honey. Perfect for a summer day down the bay.