Entertainment in Wales
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A
Chapter Arts Centre
Probably the city's most interesting arts venue, the Chapter has a varied programme of contemporary drama, as well as art exhibitions, workshops, alternative theatre and dance performances; it's also an appealing, arty place to hang out and there's a good café-bar with Cardiff's biggest range of beers.
reviewed
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B
Bar Creation & Club Eden
One of the biggest gay venues in Wales, this bar and club combo stages a packed programme of club nights, drag acts, film screenings and cabaret shows.
reviewed
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C
Park Inn
The famous Mumbles Mile - a pub crawl through the bars between Newton Rd and Bracelet Bay - is not what it once was; most of the old pubs have succumbed to pumping house music and boisterous crowds of alcopop-fuelled teens. One place worth seeking out is the Park Inn, set a block inland from the promenade and away from the crowds. It's a friendly local serving real ale, where any music you hear will be knocked out on the pub piano.
reviewed
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D
Venue Cymru
The town's leading arts venue for shows and events from rock gigs to highbrow classical performances.
reviewed
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E
Yard
Occupying the site of an 18th-century brewery, Yard sports an industrial-chic décor of stainless steel, polished copper pipes and zinc ducting, with a trad-looking bar in front and clubby sofas in back. Outdoor tables, good food and a child-friendly policy pulls in families at lunchtime, while cocktails and DJs attract a young party crowd at night.
reviewed
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F
Purple Moose Brewery
The Purple Moose Brewery is one of about 30 microbreweries across Wales. From humble beginnings the venture is now very much a working business with a small staff of four and contacts to supply pubs across North Wales from Anglesey to Harlech. In August 2006 the Snowdonia Ale won the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) award for Champion Beer.
reviewed
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G
Café Jazz
It's not exactly your traditional smoky jazz basement, but this appealing hotel café-bar is the city's main jazz venue, with live jazz kicking off at 21:00 Monday to Thursday, and blues from 22:00 Friday (on Saturday nights it's a piano bar). Monday-night jam sessions give new talent a chance to sit in with the house band.
reviewed
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H
Golden Cross
One of the oldest pubs in the city and a long-standing gay venue, this Victorian bar retains it's handsome stained glass, polished wood and ceramic tiles. A daytime atmosphere of relaxed local drinking den escalates into full-on party mode in the evenings, with a crowded programme of drag, cabaret, quiz and karaoke nights.
reviewed
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I
Clwb Ifor Bach
Truly an independent music great, Y Clwb has broken many a Welsh band since the early 1980s. It started as a venue for Welsh-language music in Anglophone Cardiff and has survived the Cool Cymru backlash with its reputation as Cardiff's most eclectic and important venue. It now hosts bands performing in many tongues and it's the best place to catch gigs by up-and-coming new acts as well as more established artists.
reviewed
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J
Club X
Cardiff's biggest gay club has two dance floors, with a great chill-out bar and covered beer garden upstairs. Wednesday night is student night, with cheap drinks, but Saturday is the big one, with chart hits out front and dirty house in the back room. It's also open on the last Sunday of the month (23:30 to 04:00).
reviewed
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K
Eli Jenkins
Named after the vicar in Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, this is a trad-style pub set in a Victorian terrace, with wood-panelling, bookcases and a big screen for the rugby. It's a popular spot for an after-show drink for performers at the Wales Millennium Centre across the square.
reviewed
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L
Chilli's
Formerly the University of Wales student union, Chilli's is a stylish chill-out bar and terrace with two dance floors, popular with students on weeknights, but pulling in a mixed crowd at weekends when they have Lamerica (www.lamericapromotions.com), a brilliant soulful/funky house night.
reviewed
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M
Dylan Thomas Theatre
Home to Swansea Little Theatre, an amateur dramatic group of which DT was once a member, the company stages a wide repertoire of plays, including regular performances of your man's Under Milk Wood.
reviewed
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N
Toucan Club
This funky little space, all bold colours and swirly mosaics, is the centre of Cardiff's independent club scene, promoting funk, world music and cutting-edge hip hop, as well as exploring new beats and staging live dance acts, acoustic acts and performance poets. Well worth a look.
reviewed
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O
No Sign Bar
Once frequented by Dylan Thomas (it appears as the Wine Vaults in his story The Followers), the No Sign stands out as the only vaguely traditional bar left on Wind St. On weekends there's live music downstairs in the Vault. The window seats, looking out over the acres of goose-bumped flesh on the street outside, offer a frisson of schadenfreude.
reviewed
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P
Salt
A huge, modern, nautical-themed bar (ocean-liner décor, blue-and-white drapes, bits of driftwood, pictures of the Welsh coast) with plenty of sofas and armchairs for lounging around and, best of all, a first-floor open-air terrace with a view of the yachts out in the bay.
reviewed
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Q
Cardiff University Students' Union
The students' union hosts regular live gigs by big-name bands, from Newport rappers Goldie Lookin Chain and chart-toppers the Magic Numbers to ageing heavy-metal rockers Motörhead. The box office is on the second floor of the union building and is open noon till midnight.
reviewed
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R
Theatr Gwynedd
Associated to the university, this excellent performing arts venue is one of four theatres in Wales with its own resident acting company. The ever-changing programme features a full schedule of drama (both Welsh- and English-language), dance, musicals and new-release films.
reviewed
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S
Monkey Bar
An organic-vegetarian café-bar by day, with chunky tables, big sofas, modern art and cool tunes, this funky little venue transforms after dark into Swansea's best alternative club, with weekend DJs playing drum and bass, hip hop, dub, reggae, salsa and world music.
reviewed
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T
Wharf
A huge glass-and-brick building with a Victorian-industrial look, the Wharf is a big family-friendly pub with a children's area and picnic tables overlooking the water. There's regular entertainment, with live music Monday and Saturday, and stand-up comedy on Thursday.
reviewed
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U
Cottage
A long, narrow pub with a traditional atmosphere - wooden floor, brass drip trays, polished mahogany bar - the Cottage attracts a mix of characters, from weary shoppers to local office workers, and offers guest real ales as an alternative to the ubiquitous Brains.
reviewed
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V
Bute Dock Hotel
Originally a Victorian coaching inn, the Bute Dock is a proper local pub, a welcome antidote to the trendy bars of Mermaid Quay. Open-mic sessions on Friday nights keep the pub-singer tradition alive, with amateurs belting out renditions of Tom Jones classic hits.
reviewed
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W
Point
Set in a beautifully converted Victorian church, the Point has hosted gigs by a wide range of bands, including the Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals and the Darkness. It's now one of the city's best live-rock and metal venues, with gigs several nights a week.
reviewed
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X
Café Bar Europa
Café Bar Europa is super small, but in a good, cosy way, with exposed brickwork, album covers, and books scattered around. At night it metamorphoses into a bar, where there are poetry readings, DJs, comedy, and acoustic live jazz, blues, folk and rock.
reviewed
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Y
Uplands Tavern
Yet another Thomas hang-out, Uplands still serves a quiet daytime pint in the Dylan Thomas snug. Come nightfall and it turns into a different beast altogether as the hub of the city's live music scene.
reviewed