Beer bars of Newport

It's ben a few years since I last did a video with You Tube Beer Reviewer Simon Martin so we recently met up in Newport for brief history lesson on the pubs and former breweries of Newport

 

Former Wetherspoons in Newport closes

As if the rows of closed shops in the centre of Newport isn't depressing enough, the former Wetherspoons pub, the Tom Toya Lewis has shut it's doors. Wetherspoons put the pub on the market back in 2017 and sold it in mid-2018 with planning permission to convert the unused upstairs into 8 two-bedroomed apartments. The pub was bought by Warrington-based Close Community Ltd, who, according to Companies House run "sports clubs". Anyway, their accounts are overdue at Companies House and even when the pub was open under the new ownership their were supply problems with beer and food.

The pub was named after Tom Toya Lewis, a young hero of the 1909 Alexandra docks disaster and was originally built as the YMCA in 1909, although by the 1980s the downstairs had become a tailor's shop, Bollingtons I believe?

Elsewhere in Newport, 'Spoons have also sold the Queen's Hotel, which has become a members-only club, ending 157 years of being a public house.

Newport Wetherspoons used by paedophile for drugs and grooming

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm not a fan of the Wetherspoons chain of pubs but the story in the South Wales Argus today (no online version yet) shows the type of customers that frequent the Queens Hotel in Bridge Street, Newport, and the depths to which their clientèle have sunk to:

This story does not even make front-page news or even top of the page news; it's on the bottom of page 5. 

To quote the paper, "The first time [they met] was at the Queens Hotel in Newport in January last year...  there was use of controlled drugs".

Use of drugs, children being groomed on the premises? A few years ago when Chaverspoons announced that they were taking over the Queens I wrote that Newport was stepping into the abyss, it seems as if the City has now reached those depths.

No mention in the paper if any Chaverspoons staff have faced disciplinary action over this to occur on their premises and their PR department have not got back to me today but if this happened a few years ago the pub would have no doubt lost its license. It's a fact that badly-run pubs attract dodgy customers and encourage bad behaviour so, I challenge Tim Martin, boss of JD Wetherspoons to start to clean up this pub by sacking the manager who allowed this behaviour to occur on the premises. Go on Tim, have the guts to clean your own pubs up before taking on Europe!

A bit of historical reference here, I used to work in the Queens Hotel when it was owned by Belhaven Inns so I'm familiar with the pub and the drinking culture in Newport, but the grooming and drugging of 14 year-old girls by a Muslim sex offender is something that Wetherspoons must stop at all costs.

Still its not as if anyone has died in the pub, I mean this is Newport, not Aberdare.

Update: 16.01.12 - the Argus appear not to have put the story online, but they have mentioned it in a different story here.

Meet the brewer at the Dic Penderyn

In an effort to educate the chavs of Merthyr away from pints of wife beater and similar drinks, the JD Wetherspoons outlet in Merthyr Tydifl, the Dic Penderyn will be holding a meet the brewer night on Wednesday 14th July with Celt Experience/Newmans Brewery.
 Now I realise drinking in Merthyr town centre at night is not everyones cup of tea, but this pub is relatively safe as they will not serve you unless you take your baseball cap off so that you can be recognized on the CCTV so its not a bad place for a drink, although the nearby Rhymney Brewery pub, the Winchesterdoes far better beers and almost every night is 'Meet the Brewer' night!

Welsh Cider in Wetherspoons

From Brew Wales

Wetherspoons pubs across South Wales will be serving draught Welsh Cider and Perry this weekend thanks to Gwynt Y Ddraig who will be supplying their award-winning products to their pubs.

Above: Gwynt Cider Operations Director Bill George supplying the cider at a previous Wetherspoons Festival

The following ciders and perries have been supplied to JD Wetherspoons, not all may be available in every pub.
Draught cider and perry:
Happy Daze, 4.5 % ABV Medium. A new cider in our range, fruity, apply aroma, well balanced finish. A light and very easy to drink medium cider
Haymaker 6.5 % ABV Medium. A fruity medium cider bursting with the flavour of apples. A true Farmhouse Cider with a smooth finish.
Farmhouse Sweet 5.5 % ABV, Sweet. Easy drinking cider, very smooth as the acidity is mellowed by the sweet taste.
Farmhouse Scrumpy 5.5 % ABV, Medium. Refreshing medium cider. Smooth and well balanced flavour.
Fiery Fox 6.5% ABV, Medium. Golden medium cider with a refreshing apple aroma. Smooth balanced flavour that has a fresh, crisp sharpness.
Dog Dancer 6.5% ABV, Medium Dry. Produced from bittersweet cider apples blended with a true sharp cider apple, it is a light straw coloured cider with a medium dry, smooth, crisp, slightly sharp characteristic.
Old Timer 7.0% ABV, Medium golden cider reminiscent of harvests in days gone by.
Barnstormer 6.5% ABV, Dry. A true traditional farmhouse dry cider. A firm favourite with dry cider fans
Black Dragon, 7.0% ABV, Medium Dry. Matured in oak barrels to produce a cider rich in colour, body and flavour with a fresh fruity aroma.

From Brew Wales

Brown Snout, 6% ABV, Medium. Single varietal true bitter sweet apple harvested late in November. It has become a popular apple to grow in modern day bush orchards
Two Trees Perry 4.5% ABV, Medium. A pale, fruity perry with an aroma of fruit and a hint of honey on the palate.
Pyder, 6.0% ABV, (Apple and Pear).Medium. An out of the ordinary blend of apple and pear juice fermented and matured in wood.

If you cannot get to a Welsh Wetherspoons then Gwynt Y Ddraig will be running a cider bar at the North Somerset Agricultural Show on Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd May.

Wetherspoons to open in Chavertillery

The northern fringes of the Gwent tundra are to be further improved with the opening of yet another chav palace. JD Wetherspoons will be opening their new pub, the Pontlottyn in Chavertillery  Abertillery on Friday 12th Febuary, provided supplies of alcopops have survived the convoys to reach the Gwent valleys.  Conviently situated within walking distance of the Jobcentre Plus and Tattoo Parlour, the Pontlottyn is sure to shut down a few pubs in Abertillery, as the locals migrate to the open-plan zebu serving cheap chav palace instead of their usual smack-selling pubs.
Brew Wales sent their roving reporter to Abertillery this week to ask the locals what they thought about the new pub:
"It's fooking crucial like mon", said Brian 22, unemployed, "Cos we like now a proper town innit like the 'Port or Cradiff or even Ebbw Vale. I been to Ebbw Vale 'spoons and it real posh like cos they puts yer lager in a glass right, not like out of can like what they does in pubs around 'ere".
Brian's partner, Stacey, age 20 and a mother of 4 said, " I luvs the 'spoons, the pops are so cheap an I gets plastered on them and then gets preggers with my little babes. Me and my mates can bring our kiddies in the pub all day like and sit there and drink the 'pops and the little ones can run round the pub all day. it's going to be fookin great".
Semi-retired drug dealer and now illegal tobacco salesman Paul, 62, said, "It's another outlet for my chinese-made fags. The more customers in a pub the more chance I have of selling tobacco, pst want some Superkings?"

Pub manager Jane Merralls says she is looking forward to welcoming customers into The Pontlottyn.

“I am confident that it will be a good addition to Abertillery’s social scene,” she said.

Pontlottyn
Somerset Street
Abertillery
Gwent
NP13 1DJ

Cottaging in the Ernest Willows

For those of you who like the beers from Cottage Brewery in Somerset, the Ernest Willows in Cardiff is holding a "Meet the Brewer" night on Friday 29th January from 1900 hrs onwards. A range of beers from Cottage Brewery will be also be available throughout the week.
Seems there is an adventerous manager in this Wetherspoons pub on City Road. Good luck to him and the brewery, this Meet the Brewer night is becoming a regular monthly fixture at this pub, next month Wickwar Brewery are being featured.

Lets have rollers!

The other night, as Brew Wales was making his way home after a night of research in the Capitol, he could not help to notice the roller shutters that have been fitted to the front of the Godfrey Morgan, a JD Wetherspoons chav-palace situated in Maindee, Newport. Now I realise the building was derelict before 'Spoons moved in, but roller shutters, on a former cinema built in the 1930s? Hardly in keeping with the Art-noveau decor of the building or fitting into the surroundings.
Now a JDW insider (yes there are some who still speak to me) tells Brew Wales that the shutters were fitted because of burglaries at the pub, only the perpetrators of said break-ins actually forced the fire door at the rear of the pub, not at the front. So another building in Newport gets desecrated in the name of security.
Still look on the bright side, the shutters only come down when the 'Spoons is shut, so the hours they are down are quite few. Another bit of character to add to the 'Port.

Queens Hotel, Newport

Popped into the newly refurbished Queens Hotel in Newport. Now a JDW Lloyds No1, Brew Wales has a particular attachment to the Queens Hotel as his first job from school was working for Belhaven Inns in this pub. No Bass on nowadays but the handpumps offer 7 different real ales, unfortunately only 2 of the handpumps were serving ales. Another case of Wethersoons advertising beers for sale that are not available. Yes, Brew Wales realises that Tim Martin said that it is not company policy to offer for sale beers that are not available, but the managers get marked down by their superiors for not putting on a full range. Still a just about drinkable pint of Old Hooky was enjoyed, even if the barman had to be asked to top the pint up as half an inch of head is not acceptable. Early days for the Queens but this latest incarnation as a Lloyds No1 is better than the Aussie theme bar it was before. Should keep the ghosts happy.

Wetherspoons finally admits real ale policy

Chav-palace creators JD Wetherspoons have finally admitted that they are not interested in appearing in the Good Beer Guide, published by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.
A manageress of one of their Newport-based chav-palaces told a CAMRA member who was surveying the pub for the Good Beer Guide that, "We don't care about going in the Good Beer Guide" and refused to give the researcher the opening times for the pub!
Nice to have something many of us have long suspected finally confirmed by one of their staff.
With their policies of chucking any pumpclip on any handpump and continuing to serve beer that is only fit for pouring over chips, it's hardly suprising that only a few of their chav-palaces make it into the Good Beer Guide.
As a point of principle, Brew Wales no longer drinks in any of their pubs, despite having been a supporter of the company for the last 17 years.
A new chav-palace is due to open in Barry today (13th)
Sir Samuel Romilly
Romilly Building
Barry
Vale of Glamorgan
CF62 7AU
That opening should see a few Barry pubs close down for good.

JD Wetherspoons Customer Service

Some of you may know about my complaint to JD Wetherspoons over the behaviour of a relative of a duty staff manager in the John Wallace Linton pub in Newport City Centre. If not the link and the footage is available here. Well I offered JDW the full right to reply some 5 weeks ago and they have decided not to take this up.
Okay then 'spoons, under the Stalinist Government we all now live in the UK- the right to silence has been removed and if you choose to remain silent I can only assume you are admitting the poor customer service and the fact that you allow your customers to be verbally abused and threatened by relatives of your staff. No doubt this doctrine will soon be enshrined in one of your "customer service" DVDs the staff are for ever complaining about having to watch.
Not that I'm missing going to Wetherspoons (I've decided to boycott all JDW pubs).
There's plenty of other places to drink in which offer good beer, good value and a safe environment, free from being hassled by the "Gangsta Grandad" of the duty manageress. Sam Smith's Brewery is doing very well out of me this year!
Just had an email from Wetherspoons! Unfortunately its there corporate mailshot informing me I can get a Christmas meal for £6.99 at one of their "chav palaces", not an apology or even an explanation into why the duty manageress allowed the Gansta Grandad to carry on with his outrageous behavior.
Whilst on the subject of Wetherspoons, the Brew Wales contact in Pontypridd mentioned that the clientele of the Tumble Inn on Broadway are worse than the usual bunch of Stella-supping chavs that normally inhabit Wetherspoons pubs. It turns out that this chav-palace is next door to the Probation service and their clients regularly use the Tumble as the place to go before and after meeting their probation officers!
The Urban Dictionary gives this description of Wetherspoons:

"Wetherspoons
	A chain of pubs throughouth Britain that act as a magnet for chavs and minors. Invariably centre stage for all fighting due to the lack of entertainment allowing low priced alcohol and thus large concentrations of both men and women that enjoy violence. Dude, Where's Mickey? Oh he fancied a fight so he went up to the Wetherspoons"

In the Publican today it was announced that 'spoons have won "Loo of the Year" award, with a special mention for the Tumble Inn. No doubt the "clients" in the pub appreciate the toilets as it is a major trading area for them!

Wetherspoons

For years I have been a regular customer in JD Wetherspoons pubs but finally after being threatened have decided to boycott the lot of them. It all started on Wednesday night, when meeting up with Fido after work we went about trying the different beers at their real ale festival in the John Wallace Linton, Cambrian Rd. Now this pub has improved in the last year since the disappearance of the former manager, a former bankrupt (pub was in his girlfriends name until the bankruptcy was discharged) whose previous premises had been closed down due to gun running! Oh and his dodgy mates used to use the pub to sell cigarettes by the carton out of shopping bags. In the last year since the former manager has been gone there have not been any burglaries nor any suspicous fires which some might say is a coincidence, or not.
Anyway to get back to the story - JDW pubs have always had a no music policy which applies to customers. I politely asked some local chav sat behind me not to whistle, it was disturbing our conversation. Unfortunately this chav, after visiting the bar to top up on his gallon or two of Stella which he had already downed decided to bump into me, despite there being more than ample room for his more than ample fat chav gut to get past. I told him to watch where he was going and him and his Stella-sodden partner launched into a tirade of abuse and attempted to attack me. They don't call Stella wife-beater for nothing. Both fat chavs were escorted out of the pub by JDW staff, as in the somewhat shaky video below:

Now the duty manageress did apologise to us but unfortunately the stella-supping chavs had a friend in the pub, an OAP who insisted on joining in. Rather than ask this geriatric gangster to leave, the duty mangeress, who referred to him as "Grandad", allowed him to be served again and he continued to abuse both myself and Fido. Finally when complaining to the duty manageress we were the ones asked to leave, not the geriatric gangster who was being allowed to phone up his sons "to sort me out".
Fido has down a posting on this event as well
Further videos of the events of that night are below



Suffice to say I will not be going back into Wetherspoons again, despite being a customer for 20 years. A complaint has been made to JDW head office and I will give them the full right of reply on this website, in the meantime, why not join the Avoid Wetherspoons Facebook site.

Bill brings in the barrel at Wetherspoons!

Bill George, award-winning cider-maker at Gwynt Y Ddraig helps out delivering barrels during the Wetherspoons beer festival at the Sirhowy, Blackwood. The pub manager, Steve Rouse, thought a few wooden barrels would add atmosphere to the beer festival and asked Gwynt Y Ddraig to supply them. The pub, on Blackwood High Street always sells the Welsh ciders Black Dragon, Orchard Gold and Gold Medal. Gwynt Y Ddraig cider have also held a cider tasting in the pub and will hopefully hold one in the future.
For updates on Gwynt Y Ddraig events check out their Facebook site


Photo below shows Gwynt Y Ddraig operations director Bill George and the Sirhowy Manager Steve Rouse.