The next Good Beer Guide venue that we headed towards was the Pen and Wig, located in a former Victorian house. I realised, with a little disappointment, when entering that the venue was operated by Stonegate as part of their Heritage Pubs brand. In fairness, it’s very well reviewed online and they’re clearly doing something right.
There was quite a broad range of real ales, although nothing exactly set the heart racing and the prices were towards the higher end of the scale. The service was though friendly, engaging and efficient.
I went for half a pint of the Horny Goat Ale from the Trefforest Brewery and it was clean, hoppy, well-kept although perhaps a touch generic.
For anyone interested, here’s their matchday food menu. They normally have a slightly wider menu available, although this looked reasonably interesting.
Richard commented that he was the oldest customer in the pub, but I find that’s very often true. He was right though that this seemed to be a popular venue for students, so the average age was quite low. Richard had knocked off all the flower arrangement on the table, we initially thought as part of some political statement, but it was just clumsiness. We didn’t say anything though.
Being a Stonegate pub, I realised that Richard and Liam could sign up to their loyalty app to get a free drink. Liam went for a Guinness, which I kindly shared with him after his nifty work in getting half into a half pint glass, whilst Richard opted for a gin and tonic. Well, it would have been tonic, but they had run out and so they gave him one rather flooded with lemonade.
The building only became used as a pub in the 1990s, so it’s one of the more recent licensed premises in Cardiff. I wasn’t surprised and delighted with Stonegate operating it as their prices are high, but at least they had a decent real ale and cider offering. The venue was relatively clean and it was spacious, helped by the large beer garden at the rear of the property. I did feel that I received value for money given that I received half a Guinness for free, so that felt like a win as well.