Be Excellent To Each Other

Wotcha folks. I'm off out in Bristol on a birthday pub crawl with friends tomorrow. Despite living in Cardiff, I haven't drunk in Bristol that often. Are there any must-go drinking holes I should know of, and if so, why?

We shall be starting at Ye Shakespeare near Temple Meads at 12:00pm. Where next is anyone's guess.

You should start a bit earlier than 1am.

Bah, pshaw, stupid mistype, should have read 12:00. And yes, very amusing.

The Seven Stars is one. Soma FM listeners (well, at least two, one of whom is hardcore enough to own the t-shirt) drink there and the selection of beers seemed good.

The other may or may not be the Old Duke (you can imagine why this recollection is hazy) which had an excellent drinks selection. (EDIT: my colleague who was even more sloshed thinks it was the Old Fish Market, which from pics on Google looks more correct than the Duke)

Both within reasonable staggering distance of Temple Meads (NB: there is some sort of drinkery in the station itself, and a Wetherspoons just outside)

Heh, amusingly I was in Bristol this very afternoon for the first time as a stop off on my way to Wales. We just Googled for decent beer pubs in Bristol and end up going to Beerd and Zero Degrees. Both had excellent beer selections (Zero Degrees' apple flavoured wheat beer was particularly nice) but neither were too comfortable for extended periods of time. Then, on the way out of the city, we noticed Colston Yard and wished we had time to go in as it seemed to combine an extensive beer selection plus a nice cosy looking venue.

Tomorrow is Cardiff with the in-laws so we'll probably try and fit in a pint at Zero Degrees there as well. Unless anyone has any better recommendations?

I still find it weird that Zero Degrees opened a second bar, somewhere where the name no longer makes any bloody sense.

Pete is your man... but carry on north up Westgate Street where Zero Degrees is to The City Arms... several Beex meets have occurred there.

From there, up to Cardiff Castle and then east toward Queen Street (huge pedestrianised shopping street) and on the corner by Subway you'll find the Rummer Tavern which is also good.

If you don't mind walking a bit further, the Pen and Wig is good.

Cheers man, I'll keep all that in mind. We're going over with my mother and grandmother-in-law so I don't know if there'll be much time for pubs but it's good to be prepared.

Ta dudes, Colston Yard and Seven Stars are down on't list now.

Bamba! Hope I'm not too late in tipping you off here, but the best place to drink in Cardiff at the moment is The City Arms at the foot of Womanby Street. It has a fantastic guest ale selection and beers of every type from around the world. Lots of seating too, and never too busy. I also recommend Gwdi Hw's for the nice atmosphere and great music. There's a limited selection of good beer but it's a very nice place to drink. You'll find it at the bottom of Churchill Way across the crossroads on the left. It's an orange building. Rummer Tavern is indeed good stuff, as is the Goat Major if you're after old man's pub.

Have a good 'un!

Currently grabbing wifi outwide Burker King while MIL buys most of fucking Next. This is just to kill what time's left after she bought most of fucking M&S of course. Shortly it's onwards to Jamie Oliver's restaurant for lunch and then we're ditching the in-laws and going to The City Arms for a pint so cheers for that Pete. Tonight will involve trying (and failing utterly) to find any decent beer anywhere in Ammanford. Fuck sake, she's so coming down on her own next time...