Ernest Willows (JD Wetherspoon), Roath, Cardiff

Pretty standard Spoons, with a raised area to the right of the pub. Not really much to shout about here and it's probably not worth the walk from the centre of town to get here. Seemed fairly popular with the locals though.

Traditional Spoons, large rectangle with a raised “dining” area to the right of the entrance.Large window onto the busy road that is awash with restaurants and cafes. The long bar is on the wall opposite the door and has a slate like tiled floor in front of the bar before it becomes Spoons type carpet that has seen better days throughout. Venue was mega busy on my visit towards the end of the England Euro QF. There is an outside seating area at the back. Loads of keg offered, most of not all ever present in Spoons. The cask offering was pretty poor. Two banks of 5 hand pumps with identical offering including the ubiquitous Ruddles Best, Doom Bar & Abbot. The two others on offer were Bays Devon Dumpling and Grainstore Rutland Beast. I had the Ruddles and a packet of salted nuts for £2.49. Would have been happy with something better for double the price! This is definitely not one of the leading lights of the JDW empire. It obviously carves out a decent existence for Tim. I hadn’t visited previously and doubt I ever will again.

Cardiff isn’t short of a Spoons. This one has an unusual interior, has got the vibes of a converted Oriental restaurant in terms of the lattice woodwork dividers. Also unusual for a JDW in a) having the FA Cup semi-final on and b) with the volume up loud. Two guest cask, my Kirkby Lonsdale was fair (NBSS 2.5). Chronically understaffed, the single overworked barmaid forgot to give me any change as she tried (and failed) to juggle three orders simultaneously. There’s no compelling reason to walk a few minutes out of the immediate city centre Timbo Taverns to do this one aside from the ticking aspect.

Ernest Willow was some geezer who built an airship and flew it over his home town of Cardiff. He was subsequently killed in an air accident. It's only just outside the city centre roughly half a mile East of Queen Street Rail Station. It consists of a wide rectangular room with smaller areas either side of the bar. The decor involves lots of light coloured wood but the furnishings are fairly typical. The Gents toilets here are quite ornate. There was a mix of folk in on my Wednesday evening visit. The bar has two sets of five hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom doubled up, a cider, Glamorgan Thunderbird & Jemima's Pitchfork and Boss Brave. I went for the Boss Brave (£2.05) which was in good condition. This one seemed pretty reasonable to me.