The City Arms, Cardiff

Located just behind Tiny Rebel, this was my last and solo pub of the crawl. The interior is fairly traditional with a bare boarded floor, unwatched cricket and at least one games machine. Customers were mixed locals and no sign of Gemma Ford, or maybe I’m just not ‘fit’ enough. A Brains outlet, so their brews: Bitter, Dark, SA Gold, Rev. James and SA, £2.39 a half and boring. On balance, this pub is above average, by which I mean above average by Cardiff Central standards.

A good sized pub located just a stone’s throw from the stadium, it occupies a large corner plot and was presumably at one time, two or three units that have been knocked together. Internally it consists of a number of interconnected rooms arranged around a central wood panelled bar counter. Flooring was bare boards, whilst the ceiling was covered in embossed wallpaper in that nicotine colour of old, that you see less and less of these days. Walls were mostly a sort of maroon shade with pine wood panelling on the lower part, although I did note that one of the rear rooms had the walls entirely plastered in old Wales rugby photos. Other rugby memorabilia included a signed shirt and a Welsh flag on the ceiling. Seating was a mixture of chairs, stools, and some padded banquette seating off to one side. There were several TV screens dotted around showing sports fixtures, as well as a juke box and a fruit machine, which is normally the sort of thing that would put me off a pub somewhat, but here it somehow managed to blend in without being at all intrusive. Beers on tap were all from Brains with their SA, SA Gold, Dark, Bitter and Rev James. Ciders were well represented with Rosie’s Pig in Strawberry, Rhubarb and Raspberry flavours, Old Rosie, Inch’s, Aspall’s, Strongbow regular and Dark Fruit, and Thatcher’s Gold and Haze. All in all, not a bad pub, and I’d happily stop by again if in the area.

Large pub next to National Stadium. Lovely corner pub, stripped floor boards, central bar, nice leaded windows to street. Good choice of beers and ciders

What was a fairly run of the mill Brains pub is now run as a free house that also sells Brains beers. I didn't get the impression of a two room pub as the central bar counter just seems to have the furnishings wrapped around it. I didn't see any stillage either but I did count something like fourteen hand pumps. I didn't note all the beers but I'm sure there was a full range of Brains beers and did see Milestone and Ascot represented. I went for the Vale Of Glamorgan Flying Hellfish (£3.45) which was in good nick. Given the central location this is an obvious place to try Brains beers but I would return for the guests and save the Brains for the Goat Major and Old Arcade.

This is a large, two bar Brains house just outside the Millennium Stadium, but offering a much more varied ale range than the majority of the city's Brains outlets. The left hand bar is a simple wedge shaped room with the servery over to the right hand side and a large open space opposite, presumably very useful on heaving match days. A good deal of sturdy looking seating has been arranged around the perimeter and the room has a lot of visual appeal, with breweriana, mirrors, beer bottles and pump clip collections adding a significant amount of colour to the walls. The right hand bar is L shaped with bare floorboards, low stools and some high padded banquettes as well as the provision of plenty more vertical drinking space. Lots of pump clips run around the walls here and there are numerous old photos and advertisements on display as well, with the focal point being an impressive etched mirror for W, J & J Sanderson, 1850. The room extends into a rear space where a good deal more seating can be found and there are lots more interesting items worth looking through here including some well presented beer bottle displays. Each area has its own large TV screen, all of which were off on this visit, although I suspect certain sports events get an airing. The day's papers were filed in a rack next to the bar and some music quietly piped its way through the rooms for the duration of my visit. The ale range included four casks on stilage behind the bar, but I couldn't figure out which of these, if any, were actually on and what they were dispensing. The handpulls were all clearly clipped and offered Brains Bitter, SA, Reverend James, Dark, Boilermaker and Rye Catcher, Anarchy Urban Assault, Oakham Black Hole Porter, Portcullis Castles and something called Firebox, plus two real ciders. The Urban Assault was in pretty good shape and served by a friendly, welcoming barmaid. I found this an incredibly relaxing place to enjoy some good beer, although I appreciate that there will be times when the environment and atmosphere changes dramatically. The pub is well kept, welcoming and offers a good range of ales by Cardiff standards and in my view is probably the best traditional style pub in the city centre.

Handily opposite the Urban Tap House, this is a Brains outlet but also hosts a number of their own specials/seasonals and proper guests, spread over handpulls and the dreaded stillage. True to form, the Dark Star from handpull was a decent drop but the stillaged Glastonbury was slops. Also available were some of the Westons Twist ciders – which were revolting. Internally there’s not a huge amount to get excited by. There's a few tables outside but expect to be accosted by wandering vagrants. Worth a look-in for the handpulls only. A 6.5 kind of place but I'll be generous and err upward.