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Category: UK

Cardiff – Head of Steam

Our first pub in Cardiff was Head of Steam, which ticked numerous boxes for me. Firstly, I’m working my way around every Head of Steam in the country and I don’t have many left, it’s also a decent venue which has the beers listed on Untappd and to add to that it’s also listed in the Good Beer Guide.

Some of the keg beer options.

Accepting that I was making an awkward request, I asked if I could order 1/3 of three different beers. The team member was helpful and pro-actively mentioned that there was an offer of any four 1/3rds for £10 which was very reasonable given the cost of some of the beers.

Anyway, from left to right:

(i) Brewmaster Special 007 from Brew York – grapefruit, hoppy and quite fierce, with some pineapple in there as well.

(ii) Bird of Prey from Ulitje Brewing Company – juicy, hoppy and another fierce tasting one.

(iii) Jellyfish Nebula from Tooth & Claw Brewing – a clean and hoppy beer, but I would have ideally liked a bit more punch from it.

(iv) Sticky Toffee Pudding from Vocation Brewery – this is the cask version and there were upfront toffee notes, roasted end-notes and it was a bit thin, but the toffee taste was pleasant.

Liam followed me by going for four different beers, with Ross ordering a pint of lager but I wasn’t judgemental about that….. Richard decided he wanted a decadent can. Richard will be showered with praise later on in this post for his decisions in this venue, but I’ll come onto that.

This is Richard’s beer but I helped him drink some of it, it was rich in flavour but hides its ABV. Not enough chilli for me, but lots of chocolate and it was slightly decadent.

Richard decided to get some cans and I was surprised and delighted by this one, Fancy Orange from Twice Brewed. This is my kind of thing, there’s orange, there’s fizziness, it’s low ABV but it’s rather lovely in a Hooch kind of way.

The Dandelion and Burdock sour and I thought that this was brilliant. It was punchy, herbal with elements of liquorice. This was certainly another one verging into decadent.

The bar had quietened down a little from how busy it was earlier. There was a private party on the first floor and no seating when we came in, but it was a little more calm later on.

Richard getting in the way of my photo of the Untappd screen, which for those who can be bothered to zoom in can see the latest check-ins from Liam, Richard and myself. Ross refuses to get Untappd which feels sub-optimal, but who am I to be judgemental….

This was the beer of the night with caramel, banana, toffee all beautifully combined. Slight burnt notes, but so agreeable with great mouthfeel and smooth for its ABV. Decadent and brilliant.

Richard was so excited at the beers he decided to sneeze a lot, so we ran for safety to the bar. Not one to linger on Untappd, but Richard is getting ever better at his scoring and even Liam is coming on nicely….

Anyway, this is a really rather lovely bar with an interesting mixture of cask and keg beers. The prices were reasonable with the offers and the team members were friendly, engaging and helpful. The venue could perhaps keep its Untappd listings a little more up-to-date, but that feels like a minor matter.

But, particular thanks to Richard for getting so involved with the can choices and encouraging us to stay a little longer than we might otherwise have done, he was absolutely right to tempt us into lingering in this really rather lovely venue. Definitely one that deserves to be in the Good Beer Guide.

November 16, 2025
Cardiff – Jollibee

Due to the buses faffing about, we arrived into Cardiff a little later than expected and so I had another of my marvellous ideas to try a chain that none of us had visited before.

Jollibee is the Philippines’s rather beloved fast-food chain, a national institution that began humbly in the late 1970s as an ice cream parlour before discovering, with perhaps admirable pragmatism and self-awareness, that people actually preferred fried chicken and spaghetti. Who can blame them? Today it’s a global brand and it has started to expand its operations in the UK.

We ordered at the kiosks, but these are the tempting menu boards. I’m intrigued by the spaghetti option, it’s something a little different at least. As was the pineapple drink option that was listed.

A nice and basic five spicy tenders meal which was entirely agreeable, with the chicken was tender and the coating was actually spicy rather than some sort of bland corporate affair.

It all feels rather on-trend, but it could have been cleaner. The toilets were also rather chaotic, which perhaps takes away from their brand concept a little in terms of being modern and, er, clean.

Liam panicked when the kiosk said “would you like to add something else for a bargain price” and he kept saying yes.

Richard did something similar, including ordering a dessert. I think it was agreed by us all that for a chain, the food and drink here was really rather acceptable. The online reviews are positive and this feels a better value and quality proposition than offered by their rivals KFC, who have an outlet just over the road.

November 16, 2025
Norwich to Cardiff Journey

The excitement of my birthday weekend (the first of two, which is perhaps overly decadent) began on Friday with the trip from Norwich to Cardiff. After Liam had picked me up in his rather lovely car, of which much more on later, we collected Ross and headed to Greggs.

I get a free Greggs drink every week and I went for the Mint Mocha and it didn’t disappoint.

Liam had secretly planned the Saturday activity, but it was evident that it was likely to be heavily amended due to the rain. He went off to make his secret call and came back with a hamburger for me, which was suitably delicious. He’s a very good friend.

Safely into Banbury and the first charge of the weekend.

We had a short walk around Banbury and I’ve already posted about The Exchange pub and Banbury Cross.

We were meeting up with Richard at Gloucester Services and that proved to be just a little too upmarket for some of us, but Richard enjoyed his coffee as nothing is too upmarket for him.

I like services with a Greggs as I have simple tastes, but for those who want to buy artisan bread, there’s that option here.

We then drove to Tiny Rebel (by we, I mean Liam and Richard) which I’ve already written about. With that we arrived at Mercure Cardiff North hotel, but more about that in future posts….

November 16, 2025
Newport – Tiny Rebel Brewery Taproom

I’ve been keen to visit this taproom at Tiny Rebel’s brewery for some time, so trying to ignore the torrential downpour of rain we headed on inside.

There was a friendly welcome from the team member at the door, with the whole arrangement feeling ordered and well managed.

I had, to be honest, expected a slightly wider range of beers and I struggled to find something that I hadn’t had before. However, the team member behind the bar was patient and we worked out the three beers that I’d have one third of a pint of each.

The venue served food and I was very tempted by the pizza and burger options, but I was conscious that we were probably best to get to our hotel in Cardiff and then head out.

The three beers that I went for were (from left to right):

(i) Rebel IPA – this was clean, crisp and a little unexciting.

(ii) Neon Drift – this was much more exciting, fruity, rich and slightly complex.

(iii) Electric Boogaloo, the only one of these that I’ve had before – passion fruit finish, with a pleasant tropical taste.

I very much liked how comfortable, clean and organised it was here. The team members were friendly, it had a laid-back environment, but I would have liked to see a little more decadence in terms of the beer options although it might be that Tiny Rebel is more concentrating on their core range now.

I’m very pleased that we visited and as a little extra bonus, it had nearly stopped raining by the time we left ready to embark on the next part of the journey.

November 16, 2025
Banbury – Banbury Cross

I was wondering why I’d heard of Banbury Cross, but then I realised that it was from an historic nursery rhyme. This main event is the “Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady upon a white horse.” but no-one knows for sure who the fine lady was meant to be, which is terribly British, to celebrate someone anonymously for centuries. Theories range from Queen Elizabeth I to Lady Godiva, to some entirely fictional woman who had the good sense to sit on a horse while everyone else was walking. Anyway, the cross in the nursery rhyme was pulled down in 1600.

This ornate little number dates from 1859 when it was erected to mark the wedding of the Princess Royal (1840-1901), the daughter of Queen Victoria, to Prince Frederick of Prussia (1831-1888) in the previous year. She was a little unlucky, as she was Empress of Prussia for just 99 days after her husband died soon after becoming Emperor in March 1888.

In 1914, the statues of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V were added, with the cross being restored in 2012. Its major fault as far as I’m concerned is that it’s inaccessible, or without risking life and limb, as it’s stuck in the middle of a roundabout. It does take away a little from the excitement when it can only be seen from behind barriers. There’s a photo on the Francis Frith website at https://www.francisfrith.com/banbury/banbury-cross-1921_70582 from 1921 which shows that it was once rather more accessible.

This is rather lovely though, located nearby.

November 16, 2025
Banbury – The Exchange (JD Wetherspoon)

The first pub stop en route to Cardiff was The Exchange pub in Banbury, operated by JD Wetherspoon. Using the chain’s text to explain the pub name and history:

“For almost 50 years, countless letters and parcels were brought in and out of this building. Banbury’s former head post office was built in 1936, on the site of an earlier 1877 post office. The new building, and the telephone exchange giving this building its name, was designed by Henry Seccombe of HM Office of Works. It was opened on 15 December 1936, by Colonel A Heenage, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Postmaster-General.”

As usual, I have to applaud the chain’s efforts to explain the history of the local area, there are tens of these boards across the pub. There’s a photo of when this venue was a telephone exchange at https://telephone-exchanges.org.uk/exchanges/banbury-exchanges/.

My now obligatory photo of the unique carpet.

The entrance and lower area of the pub, the main bar is on the raised area to the right.

And another photo looking towards the bar. There were around six real ales available, all at the usual low prices. For anyone staying late and wanting to go to a club at the weekend, the nightclub Fever is located literally behind the venue.

The pub is on the chain’s lowest price band, so this meal and drink were a grand total of £7. The steak pudding is OK, it’s not packed with the finest quality steak, but that Hazy Jane is a pint bottle and so that seems like excellent value to me. Ross went for the Christmas wrap as he loves this time of year and Liam I think went for the all day brunch or similar. The drinks and food all arrived promptly and were at the appropriate temperature, so everyone was happy.

This leads me seamlessly onto my having a look at the online reviews of the venue, which are about average for the chain.

“The “chef” kept coming out to the eating area in her grubby uniform and dancing all over the place.”

I’m with the customer, there’s no need for frivolity, it’s bad for the soul.

“My daughter, 18 today, tried to enter this establishment 30 minutes ago, with her approved photographic I.d. And was turned away for being underage, because she had to be 18 years old and one day, this is in contravention of the current licensing laws.”

That does seem a bit harsh, the excitement of turning 18 and being told that you should wait another day. Although it isn’t a contravention of the current licensing laws.

However, this is back in the day when venues were allowed to respond and they did.

“Your daughters ID showed her as turning 18 on 10/08/2019, so until 00:00:01 on 10/08/2019, she would not have been able to enter the premises. We are open until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, which technically is the next day, so if she had come in between midnight and 01:00 she would have been allowed entry.”

A rather different story and I like that they would have let her in for one hour after midnight, that’s quite a classy response.

“Very disappointing experience where the rude staff member wouldn’t even consider looking at my son’s valid electronic Australian drivers licence as ID. We had already been served once? I was rudely told when the staff member was talking over me that it was company policy to see a physical document. We had no issue is Bristol. I guess Banbury isn’t used to seeing many international visitors”

As it stands, despite the Government planning a change to this, a pub can’t accept a digital ID. So that’s a 1 star review as the venue refused to break the law to serve someone…..

“Very disappointed,got to be the worst Wetherspoons I’ve ever been in.No fish and the Wiltshire ham was almost see-through with chips I could almost count on two hands. Usually I would have made a big fuss for being ripped off but it was my birthday and my wife talked me down. Safe to say I’ll never frequent this branch again OR RECOMMEND IT.”

Complaining should be allowed on your birthday…..

“Dreadfull , ordered a starter , main all arrived at once starter was cold and clearly not cooked , main pizza arrived 2 small pizzas as they had run out of large bases , just poor service , nasty nasty”

That feels sub-optimal, sending two pizzas to make up for not having a larger base. However, I felt the need to think about this and JD Wetherspoon offers 8 inch and 11 inch pizzas. I went to https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison and it seems that the customer got a better deal here in terms of the area of pizza…. I think I should probably get out more….

“I think your staff need to brush up on the laws of photography within a public place.”

Goodness knows what the back story is here but the interior of a pub is not a public place. If the chain wants they could be as ridiculous as Sam Smiths and ban all photos.

“Widely regarded as being one of the worst in the chain.”

Not judging by Google Reviews.

Anyway, I digress and I rather liked this venue. In an ideal world they might have been clearing tables a little faster, but it was clean, comfortable and seemed to be decent value for money. The team members were friendly, the prices were cheap and that’s another outlet in the chain visited.

November 16, 2025
St. Neots – Weeping Ash (JD Wetherspoon)

Richard and I stopped off at the Weeping Ash in St Neots following the LDWA Local Groups’ weekend. It had been a successful few days, although it was fair to say that I was now getting quite tired.

Here he is enjoying his coffee. The pub was relatively quiet, but everything felt clean and organised.

I went for a pint of the Moose River from Hop Union Brewery, a hoppy, light, fluffy and bouncy beer. Eagle eyed viewers will note that Richard hid his ginger biscuits when he went to explore the pub, he was nervous that someone would scoop them up when they were walking past.

As for the pub itself, for the rest of this post, I’m going to copy and paste some text from a previous visit, which Liam and I made after I was brave going zip-lining in Wales.

The pub’s own text about the venue’s history:

“This former post office stands on part of what was once a much-admired Victorian garden belonging to the house across the road – the home of William Medland, an important man in St Neots. Bank manager and town commissioner, Medland died in 1872 in his late 60s. His widow lived in the house until the 1890s, when it was bought for the Conservative Club, which is still there. Medland’s garden was well known for its many fine trees and shrubs, particularly for its ‘magnificent weeping ash’.”

I have no complaints about the pub, it was clean, well managed and sizeable. The reviews on-line are a little less impressive, with the usual sneering type:

“It’s full of lads in white trainers and white socks that are really excited but have no idea what their excited about and badly dressed girls”

Fortunately, we didn’t have white trainers or white socks to avoid clearly offending this customer.

“They gave me a empty coffee cup without saying I needed to go and fill it up myself like I’m supposed to know this”

I do see this occasionally, often when the empty coffee cup is traipsed half way across the pub by a staff member, and then the confused customer has to traipse the same distance back to get their drink.

I find simple things entertaining, so was very excited to see a new type of coffee machine at a JD Wetherspoons. Now, I accept that I should get out more rather than spend time writing drivel like this, but it pleased me. For £1.20 for unlimited hot drinks, a complete bargain as far as I’m concerned. [I’d add that it’s now £1.81 since I wrote this with the coffee machine no longer being new]

It was a little early, but I did get a quick half with my hot drink, just so I could comment on the beer quality. I’m very dedicated to ensuring beer quality, but I do it for very selfless reasons of course. I went for the Jemima’s Pitchfork from the Glamorgan Brewing Co, a not particularly interesting beer, but at least well-kept.

The very keenly priced avocado muffin, my new go to breakfast option since the recent price hikes on the traditional breakfast. [I wrote that a couple of years ago As an aside, this menu item isn’t available in many JD Wetherspoons which is sub-optimal from my perspective.]

Anyway, I’ve visited here a few times, not least my latest visit with Richard this week, along with the food visit with Liam a couple of years ago. It’s towards the lower end of the online reviews for JD Wetherpoon outlets, but it’s always felt well managed when I’ve been before.

November 13, 2025
London – Southwark (Borough of) – Sun Wharf (New JD Wetherspoon)

A new JD Wetherspoon has opened at London Bridge station in what was formerly the London Dungeons. The entrance here is the former way into the London Dungeons, which was here between 1974 and 2013. This venue is a considerable project for the pub chain and it’s open for long hours, between 06:30 and 00:30 every day of the week.

As usual, I’ll take the pub’s history from their own website:

“Next to London Bridge station’s entrance, 48–50 Tooley Street are distinctive brick arches. Until 2013 (almost 40 years), this had been The London Dungeon. The arches were occupied by importers and provision agents, whose livelihoods depended on the warehouses opposite. Many have survived (Hay’s Wharf, now Hay’s Galleria). Fenning’s Wharf and Sun Wharf were replaced (in 1984/85) by the huge No.1 London Bridge complex. During that site’s redevelopment, a Bronze Age burial mound was unearthed.”

The bar which is bright and open.

Some of the brick arches and I can see why this was a suitable place for the London Dungeons. The rooms flow into each other, I like this sort of quirky thing.

The new coffee machine and there’s only hot milk, with no jugs for the cold milk.

There’s a bank of three coffee machines.

The unique carpet.

There’s a display about the carpet and why they’ve designed this one in this manner.

The menu.

Part of the support elements that I assume stop the building from falling down. The trains are evident running above both by noise and also because things vibrate a little.

This feels like a really well designed building, there is a choice of seating styles including low and higher tables. There are quieter areas, open-plan areas and plenty of power points. The team members seemed engaged, helpful and I saw numerous positive customer service interactions. As a conversion into a pub, this is one of the best that I’ve seen.

Although the venue has only been open for a few weeks, I thought I’d see what the few online reviews posted are like so far.

“Had had a lovely evening here but sadly the dessert menu isn’t clear enough – says “vanilla ice cream” as if it’s plain but it actually comes with sauce and the staff member wouldn’t switch it for plain despite asking. It’s a scoop of ice cream! Don’t argue the toss just switch it hahahah. Sauce was horrible by the way”

The printed menu and the online menu both mention toffee sauce and Belgian chocolate sauce. And then to give the venue 1/5 after a lovely evening….

“Told off for bringing in a fully wrapped Greggs Muffin.”

Probably best not to bring in a Greggs…..

No-one has complained yet that they can’t bring their dog in, but I imagine that’ll be coming soon. Anyway, this is a large venue that has lots of little smaller areas, something forced upon the chain by the historic nature of the building. It all felt well managed to me, spotlessly clean and evidently already popular with local office workers. All rather lovely.

November 12, 2025
Wizz Air (Budapest to London Luton)

After a long-distance rail journey from Warsaw to Budapest the day before, I had a few hours of sleep before getting up at 02:30 to get to the airport for a 06:00 flight. Here’s the Ibis Budapest City, a rather lovely hotel from what I saw of it.

There’s an airport bus every ten minutes so I wasn’t entirely broken hearted when I just missed this one by just seconds.

The 100E airport bus is a well managed operation with staff always available by the bus stop, even throughout the night. I got a seat on the bus, which filled up at the next stop, and within thirty minutes I was at the airport. In terms of efficiency, it’s one of the best airport buses and there are numerous ways to pay, including just using a contactless card on the bus.

Mine was the 06:00 flight to London Luton, visible about halfway down the left-hand column.

It all felt busy in the airport, but the signage was clear and the security process took under ten minutes. A lot of bags were caught for manual check and there were some annoyed people that their liquids and pastes were removed. My bag, unusually, was included for manual check but the security officer by the second machine looked at the x-ray and just handed me my bag back without checking anything inside.

There were lots of sleeping people in the airport and also lots of quiet places to sit.

To kill some time I popped to the external observation deck, which was of limited excitement in the dark. It also doubles up as the smoking deck, not something that I have much use for, although I liked the temperature out here.

My flight was at 06:00, the gate closed at 05:30 and so I pondered whether I should go into the lounge at 05:00 when it opened.

I did and I was the only person in there (other than the staff obviously).

Breakfast for champions…. Chips with a spicy sauce, jalapenos, tomatoes, chicken wraps, a dessert and an espresso.

It was a lot busier last time I was in this lounge. I charged my already nearly full devices a little, had a final coffee and then left for the gate.

I got to the gate just after 05:20, which is cutting it fine for me. I was pleased with my breakfast, it was quick, but helpful for giving me energy. It will surprise no-one when I say that the boarding process was efficient and well managed.

After a wait of five minutes standing on the airport bus waiting to be let out, we were allowed to board. The aircraft is HA-LZM, one that I haven’t been on before.

The seating Gods had allocated me an aisle seat, but a crew member came over during boarding and asked if I spoke English. This is something that is within my skill-set and I was ushered to guard the emergency exit door. The helpful crew member told me that I could have all three seats if I wanted to lie down to sleep after take-off.

The extra space was very useful in terms of having a nap and I spent most of the flight asleep. The flight was yet another well managed arrangement from Wiz Air, the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly, the operations were smooth and nothing annoying happened.

Here we are in sunny Luton, the beating heart of Bedfordshire.

Just under thirty minutes waiting for border control, but the queue moved constantly which helps in feeling that progress was being made. It had been quite an expedition to go from Genoa to Warsaw to Budapest to Luton, but I was pleased to be safely back in the UK. And so was Madeleine, the very talented national chair of the LDWA, as I had to get to Leamington Spa for the Local Groups’ Weekend…..

November 12, 2025
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Warsaw)

After an uneventful rail journey to Luton Airport, I popped in Big Smoke where I get £18 to spend with my Priority Pass card. There has been another price rise, which is the fourth of the year to my knowledge, which makes menu ordering slightly more difficult each time.

I opted for the dirty fries with beef brisket, the latter of which is just about hidden in the photo but there was a big lump of it at the bottom. It was entirely adequate, with the service being friendly and helpful.

And a quick visit to My Lounge to see their collection of dirty crockery and to try their Heineken 0%. They’re really nailed the flavour of it, it tastes just as bad as Heineken so that’s a win for the brewery. The Mexican chicken and spicy rice is actually decent, the food standards do seem to have improved here over the last few months. Or my standards have dropped, either is possible.

I was moderately amused as the customer in front of me asked for two Birra Moretti beers. They’re quite tight here, so every customer gets 2/3rds of a bottle, unless you have the 0% Heineken where they just give you the whole thing as I don’t think many people want that. This whole thing just makes matters more faffy and the bar server ended up with one glass of Birra Moretti full and the other 90% full. The customer complained he wanted 100% in each and the barman actually just tutted in response. The customer looked annoyed and the glass was topped up begrudgingly. Lounge entry here is nearly £40 (unless you have a lounge card or similar) so this tightness does them no favours. But, since I get free entry with Priority Pass, I won’t complain about anything else in here…..

They started boarding twenty minutes earlier than advertised, but Wizz Air are efficient and everything here was under control during the boarding process. One customer got charged £70 for having a large bag, he had got confused which bag sizer he was meant to use and I thought he was very gracious about it all. We were on the aircraft at the time that the gate was meant to have closed, something that British Airways always struggles to manage as customers faff about with their bags.

Boarding the aircraft which was HA-LGO which I don’t think I’ve been on before. The seating Gods gave me a window seat and it also transpired that there was no-one in the middle seat despite the flight being around 90% full.

The flight was, yet again, peaceful and uneventful. The crew were efficient and polite, sweeping down the aisle selling things without waking everyone up. The aircraft was clean, I had plenty of space and I was rather pleased with my £8.99 flight cost.

We were put on a bus to get the 75 metres to the airport terminal and they really struggled to get everyone on two buses, I think they’d usually use three. It felt slightly sub-optimal, but it was hardly a long bus journey so I was only briefly annoyed.

My shiny new passport, which doesn’t have around 120 stamps in the bloody thing, is allowing me to sweep through border control so I was able to get one of the last trains of the evening into Warsaw. I don’t have much leeway here, although there are plenty of night buses which serve the airport if required.

It’s always good to be back on public transport in Warsaw, peaceful and efficient.

Arriving into Warszawa Zachodnia (Warsaw West) railway station, which is currently being upgraded. However, it feels at times that Warsaw is constantly being upgraded, such as the fast rate of change here.

And there’s the Ibis Budget, hidden behind road works. This was only a ten minute walk from the railway site, and I’ve stayed at the adjoining Ibis several times, and fortunately I found a gap in the road works to actually gain access to the hotel.

All in all, I was once again pleased and content with the whole airport and flight experience.

November 3, 2025