Cardiff to get a new micropub

With the closure of the Gravity Station in Barrack Lane, Cardiff has been missing a micropub. Yes I realise the Gravity Station did move to Womanby Street but it appears to have closed before Christmas and not reopened. So step forward Baptist Minister James Karran who has decided to change a former hairdressing saloon into St Canna's Alehouse, named after the saint who gave her name to the areas of Canton and Pontcanna.

St Canna's Alehouse is situated at 42 Llandaff Road, opposite the Butcher's Arms pub and James hopes to have the pub open in March, in the meantime keep up to date with what's happening via the pub's Facebook page.



There's an article on Walesonline about the pub as well

Now & Then the former Nanthir Hotel, Blaengarw

The Nanthir Hotel, Blaengarw, a former Rhymney pub was demolished in the 1970s and Nanthir Lodge built in it's place

Micropub to open in Newport

A former computer shop in Newport is set to be turned into the City's first ever micro-pub. The Cellar Door at 5 Clytha Park Road will be the first pub in this part of the City, even in it's Victorian heyday there were no pubs in this area of Newport. The application for change of use was passed by the council earlier this month, although one local resident decided to be a NIMBY, Not sure if the moaner meant the empty building next door or the pharmacy when he complained, "There are plenty of drinking venues not only next door to that address but less than 200 yards into town centre". Still it's good for Newport and for brewers and cidermakers that there is a new independent outlet in the City. Good luck to Paul Tully in running this micropub. The pub won't be doing food but a few doors away is a fantastic burger restaurant, Meat, well worth visiting.

Best Breweries in Wales

According to the geosocial networking service Untappd, the following are the best breweries in Wales at the moment:

1. Crafty Devil Brewing Co

2. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co

3. Tenby Brewing Company

4. PIPES™

5. Hopcraft Brewing

6. Grey Trees Brewery

7. Mad Dog Brewing Co

8. Gwynt y Ddraig

9. Heavy Industry Brewing

10. Purple Moose Brewery (Bragdy Mws Piws)

11. Otley

12. Hallets

13. Glamorgan Brewing Co

14. Mantle

15. Untapped Brewing Company

16. Gower Brewery

17. Mumbles Brewery

18. Cwrw Ial Community Brewing Company

19. Big Hand Brewing Co

20. Hafod Brewing Company

21. VOG Brewery

22. Bluestone Brewing Co.

23. Great Orme Brewery

24. Bragdy Twt Lol

25. Boss Brewing Company

26. Tomos Watkin and Sons Ltd.

27. Celt Brewing

28. Tudor Brewery

29. Brains Craft Brewery

30. Conwy Brewery

31. Kite Brewery

32. Brains

33. Rhymney Brewery

34. Evan Evans

35. Monty's Brewery

36. Facer's

37. Brecon Brewing

38. Felinfoel Brewery Co Ltd

39. Plassey Brewery

According to Untappd, "A brewery must have at least 1,000 ratings and at least 5 beers in their portfolio to qualify for this list." Their ratings explainer is explained here.

Impressive that Evan Evans brewery, run by former gay nightclub boss Simon Buckley came in as only the sixth worst brewery in Wales, given the poor quality of their beers I would have thought they would have come in much lower!

Over at Ratebeer, the list is somewhat different with the top 50 beers being dominated by Tiny Rebel

1              Lines Line ACD - Farmhouse IPA India Pale Ale (IPA)       

2              Lines Line FA - Primary Brett Imperial stout Imperial Stout           

3              Lines Line CA - Nelson Saison Saison                       

4              Lines Line A - Dry hopped IPA India Pale Ale (IPA)                            

5              Tiny Rebel / Arbor Bonsai India Pale Ale (IPA)                    

6              Tiny Rebel Tiny Batch Baby’s Got a Temper Imperial IPA                               

7              Lines / Trois Dames Date Line Saison                      

8              Tiny Rebel Loki Lite Session IPA

9              Tiny Rebel Hadouken India Pale Ale (IPA)            

10           Tiny Rebel / Dark Star Rebel Alliance Saison                        

11           Lines / Fyne Ales Green Lines Saison Saison                        

12           Tiny Rebel XLPA Golden Ale/Blond Ale                  

13           Crafty Devil You Love Us India Pale Ale (IPA)                      

14           Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropicana India Pale Ale (IPA)   

15           Tiny Rebel Tiny Batch In and Around the Mouth India Pale Ale (IPA)        

16           Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out Stout 279        

17           Tiny Rebel Frambuzi Sour/Wild Ale         

18           Lines Line AE - Munich Table Beer Specialty Grain            

19           Hopcraft Sharks Against Surfers American Pale Ale          

20           Tiny Rebel The Vader Shuffle Porter                      

21           Hopcraft A Good Rogering Black IPA       

22           Otley mOtley Brew Imperial IPA               

23           Otley Oxymoron Black IPA                          

24           Hopcraft Devilfish Ink Black IPA                

25           Hopcraft Citraic American Pale Ale                          

26           Hopcraft Graveyard Eyes (5.3%) Porter  19          

27           Tiny Rebel / Weird Beard Dirty Perle StoutNew 

28           Tiny Rebel Stay Puft Stout           

29           Tiny Rebel / Dugges Pina Colada Pale Ale American Pale Ale        

30           Tiny Rebel Urban IPA India Pale Ale (IPA)             

31           Tiny Rebel Cereal Killer Session IPA                         

32           Tiny Rebel Cali American Pale Ale            

33           Tiny Rebel The Full Nelson American Pale Ale                    

34           Tiny Rebel Bass Drop Imperial Stout       

35           Tiny Rebel Loki Black IPA                              

36           Tiny Rebel Cwtch Amber Ale                      

37           Tiny Rebel Beat Box American Pale Ale                 

38           Tiny Rebel Sonic Boom India Pale Ale (IPA)                          

39           Hafod Dubbel Abbey Dubbel                     

40           Waen Snowball Sweet Stout      

41           Tiny Rebel Gin & Juice Spice/Herb/Vegetable    

42           Hopcraft Citra Plus American Pale Ale    

43           Heavy Industry 77 Amber Ale    

44           Tiny Rebel Grand Regal (Canadian Bourbon) Imperial Stout         

45           Tiny Rebel Billabong American Pale Ale                 

46           Hopcraft Mate Spawn and Die American Pale Ale             

47           Tiny Rebel Lupulin Fiasco Saison                               

48           Hopcraft Spanish Main Stout

49           Tiny Rebel Tiny Batch Hot Box Smoked
50           Hopcraft Oceanic American Pale Ale

Over at Beer Advocate, there is no separate section for Wales, merely a UK & Ireland section and no Welsh breweries make the top 100

Meanwhile CAMRA has not bothered to update their list of Champion Beers of Wales for last year but I found the results elsewhere:

Mild Brecon Brewing - Dark Beacons

Bitter Monty's - Old Jailhouse
Best Bitter Tiny Rebel - Cwtch
Strong Bitter Greytrees - Afghan IPA
Old Ale Heavy Industry - Collaborator
Barley Wines Monty's Magnitude
Speciality Purple Moose - Ysgawen
Porter Tudor - Black Rock
Stout Boss Black
Champion Beer of Wales 2016 Grand Champions
Gold - Tudor - Black Rock
Silver - Boss Black
Bronze - Monty's Old Jailhouse

Three lists of very different results!

Now and Then, former Snatchwood Inn, Abersychan

The former Snatchwood Inn, Snatchwood Road, Abersychan has now been converted into 2 houses. The above photo shows the pub in the Rhymney and Crosswells livery, before that it was a Buchan's Brewery pub

Now & Then Church Inn, Bedwellty

Another former Rhymney and before that a Andrew Buchan's Brewery pub, the Church Inn, Bedwellty Road, Blackwood, Caerphilly UA. NP12 0BD. The Church Inn supposedly dates back to the sixteenth century.



A short distance away is the New Inn, which has kept it's Rhymney Hobby Horse sign

Above photo is © Copyright Jaggery and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Now & Then, former Green Meadow PH, Troedyrhiw

The former green Meadow PH at 28 Bridge Street Troedyrhiw was renamed The Silver Bullet some years ago

Now and Then, former Gelli PH, Abergwynfi

The former Gelli pub, Commercial Street, Abergwynfi, A former Buchan's Brewery pub, shown here after the take-over of Rhymney Brewery by Whitbread.

Now and Then, former Traveller's Rest, Aberbargoed

The former Travellers' Rest pub, Bedwellty Road, Aberbargoed, a former Rhymney Brewery pub. Originally owned by Buchan's Brewery

Now and Then, former Greyhound PH, Aberbargoed

Another former Rhymney pub, this time, the former Greyhound pub, Bedwellty Road, Aberbargoed. Now demolished along with the railway viaduct behind it. Originally owned by Buchan's Brewery

Raglan Cider Wassail

Raglan Cider Mill will be holding a Wassail on Saturday 28th January, with dancing, singing and music. Cider bar all evening and a hog roast. £5 entry (£4 to Welsh Perry & Cider Society Members, U16s free.
Address is Tynewydd Farm, Llanarth, Usk, NP15 2LU

Now and Then, former Horse & Groom, Maesteg

The former Horse & Groom, 128 Commercial Street, Maesteg, as it was, above, as a Rhymney Brewery pub and below on Google Street View as it is today, split into 2, a pizza take-away and an optician. The modern Rhymney Brewery today has a bar in Maesteg, The Federation Bar, which is almost opposite this former pub.

Brecon pub to improve

A run-down hotel and bar in the centre of Brecon is set to get a new lease of life next year when it reopens as a Wetherspoons pub in February 2017. The George Hotel, once a regular entry in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide shut in January this year and was in such a bad state of repair the refurbishment works will take over a year before the building is once again suitable for use. The hotel was dropped from the Good Beer Guide after the dramatic drop in beer quality when the hotel was purchased by the later disqualified company director and former gay nightclub owner, Simon Buckley.



Some of the reviews from Trip Advisor are worth repeating:

“Not recommended Terrible & rude customer service”
I would not recommend this pub or hotel as the staff are extremely rude and unhelpful and obviously do not need customers.

“apathetic”
We had an 8 month old and an 11 month old with us who were excellently behaved throughout, which is more than can be said for the female member of staff there.

“Disorganised”
Everything seemed very disorganised and lots of people were moaning. I will not be going back there again. If this is the service you get for a meal, I dread to think what it would be like to be a guest at this hotel.

“Dreadful Sunday Lunch - Avoid this place!!!!”

Avoid this place at all costs or you will waste your money and be left disappointed, hungry and annoyed. So much so it has prompted me to deliver this critical but honest review for the benefit of others.

Visited on a Bank holiday. They were short staffed, waited hour and a half for our food which they had forgotten about!! Food very disappointing when it eventually arrived. Will Not be visiting again.

“Wetherspoons with bad service. ”

Service was short, snappy, rude and when the chef came out to tell the staff the wait was now 1hr I was neglected to be told (I merely overheard). My partner ordered a mixed grill and was laughed at in the face with no explanation. 
When another table came to sit near us they closed the kitchen clearly unable to cope with a medium busy Saturday night. 
And most of the food was obviously bought in frozen!

Although there are a few good reviews, it does raise suspicions when they are posted by staff members!

Back in 2011, The George Hotel scored a zero out of 5 for food hygiene

The George Hotel in Brecon scored so low because:

Compliance Food Hygiene and Safety 

Some major non-compliance with statutory obligations

"Repeat issue re fridge. High risk stored"  

Structural

Some major non-compliance with stat obligations

"Grease to walls. Cleaning issues" 

Confidence in Management Systems 

Poor track record of compliance, little or no technical knowledge. Little or no appreciation of hazards or quality control. 

"No food safety management".

Not the type of place you'd really want to eat in is it?

Still at least when Wetherspoons opens there the George will improve dramatically.

Elsewhere in Brecon, the Bull's Head pub is still shut and has been since 2010 apart from brief openings during Brecon Jazz Festival. Another pub owned by Simon Buckley, this was once a successful and thriving pub until he turned his reverse Midas touch to the premises and drove the customers away with his barely drinkable beer and attitude of the staff. So that's two former CAMRA Good Beer Guide pubs shut in the market town of Brecon. The Temperance Movement did not even manage that!

Oh and in a recent email from Buckley to the Brew Wales editor, he claims now that he is in communication with the dead! He is clearly bonkers!

 

Former Newport publican jailed for child abuse images

Continuing the long tradition of Newport publicans who get caught with obscene images, read this about the former landlord of the now defunct Hereford Arms in Maindee, a former manager of the Hornblower, Andrew Bates, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for having hundreds of images of child abuse on his laptop. Full story from the South Wales Argus here
A coincidence is that Bates frequented the Hereford Arms in Maindee.

The Hornblower pub is set to be demolished 

Bates managed the Hornblower in Commercial Street when his father Ken was the leaseholder. Ken Bates also attracted the interest of the police whilst he was running the 'Blower for his ahem "interest in photography."

"Bates, who wore a blue jumper at his sentencing, had a further 211 category B images and videos and 108 that fell into category C." Blue jumper? Well he always was a scruffy bastard. At least wear a tie when you are up before the judge.

Sentencing him, Judge Daniel Williams said: “Behind the photographs is a real child and a real crime. The suffering of the children could only be greater by them knowing that their abuse has been watched by you for your own sexual gratification.”

Bates was given a 12-month sentence for possessing category A images and videos. He was also handed a further six months, to be served concurrently, for the category B images and movies, and another three months for the category C pictures and videos. That will also be served concurrently.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order, under which he is barred from living with any child unless their parent or guardian has knowledge of his crimes. He will also be included on the sexual offenders' register.

All photos stolen from his Facebook profile, which has now been taken down as Facebook don't allow nonces on there.

Caerphilly Food Festival this Saturday

Yes the blog is back!
This Saturday, the 7th May sees the return of Caerphilly Food Festival, a one-day spectacular in the centre of the town with the main street shut down from opposite Wetherspoons to the Tommy Cooper statue, with market stalls all the way down.

Caerphilly Food Festival is back in town

Back for its fifth year and after the success of last year’s, thousands of people are expected to descend onto the town centre. The Festival will run from 10am-5pm, with a day packed full of fun for the whole family to embark upon. Over 70 stall holders will tempt visitor’s taste buds with samples of their delicious goods, along with a range of unique crafts to admire. This year the event will feature an exciting new demonstration area by Broil King BBQ Theatre, where workshops will be held between 11am and 3:30pm in the Twyn car park. Not forgetting the children, numerous activities will be held throughout the day including, puppet shows, animal displays, craft workshops, along with interactive cooking workshops at Children’s Cookery Corner held hourly between 11am and 3pm. Amongst the demonstrations and workshops, walkabout acts and street shows will be parading the town, entertaining the crowds, as well as RecRock Music who will offer live performances from local singers and groups. Cadw is also kindly offering two for one entry into Caerphilly Castle, during the Festival. The cheapest entrant will go free. This is sure to be a great day out for all ages, make sure you don’t miss out! For more information about the Caerphilly Food Festival, please call the Visit Caerphilly Centre on 029 20 880011 or visit the website .

Beers and ciders from Jacobi, Gwynt and Gwatkin Cider will be there.