The Golden Cross, Cardiff

Interesting-looking Brains pub with some bold exterior tiling and a little stained glass in the main windows. Inside, it retains three main rooms: a fairly uninteresting corner bar, the somewhat faded glory of the main bar - with its feature tiled picture of the castle and the imposing tilework beneath the counter - and a small pool room in the other corner with a smaller (but still impressive) tiled picture of the town hall. Otherwise, it is very plainly furnished. On the beer front, there were only reversed clips on the various handpumps, so I made do with a half of Smooth (£1.75) whilst admiring the various interesting features (and ignoring the rest).

The Golden Cross was built in 1903 for the Brains brewery and is generally regarded as having the most impressive pub interior in the whole of Wales. The exterior can't be ignored either, although the beautifully tiled façade is certainly looking a little worse for wear, with plenty of damage visible in passing. Entering through the right hand door, you start to wonder what all the fuss is about, as this brings you into a modernised corner bar with floor tiles, brightly painted walls, modern art prints and plush curved banquette seating. The lattice leaded windows with stained glass Brains inserts give a hint that you are in a special pub though and this is confirmed by making your way into the central room, where an amazing ceramic bar counter takes pride of place in the middle of the back wall, with a repeated dragon head motif. The dark wood bar back has been spoiled somewhat by replacing the centrepiece clock with a modern device and covering sections of the bar back with a large TV screen and a rainbow flag. The room is bare boarded and boasts further fine tile-work, many with intricate relief patterns. A row of high stools stand under a ledge that runs the length of the front windows, but otherwise seating options in this room are virtually non existent. A stage area can be found to the left under an incredible tile painting of Cardiff Castle - another extremely rare surviving feature. Amazingly, another tile painting can be found in the left hand room, this time depicting Cardiff Town Hall. The room has modern laminate flooring and a pool table, neither of which is really in keeping with the pub's look. There also seemed to be another bar behind the servery, but this was in darkness on my visit, so I didn't explore further. I was the only customer for the entire duration of my stay and the barman decided to celebrate my arrival by putting on some very loud pop music. I'd not expected to find any ale on the bar, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Brains SA and Bitter both available. I tried a mediocre half of the Bitter, although it's fair to say this isn't the most thrilling beer at the best of times. Other than that, it was standard mainstream keg options and not a great deal else. There's no doubting that this is a genuinely exciting pub survivor and one that should be safeguarded from loss or damage, especially given the sad demise of the Vulcan a few years ago. The current owners seem to have made several changes for the worst which have detracted from the pub's aesthetic appeal and whilst real ale might have been re-introduced, such thoughtless modifications are off-putting. I'm really glad I got to see this pub before things go too far and would urge others to do likewise.

Popped in to admire the interior – however beyond the tiled bar and ceramics there wasn’t a huge amount of pull to stay and brave the cask-less bar, so I pressed on. This is now primarily a gay venue so at least it’s open.

Occupying a prominent street corner position quite close to the City Centre is The Golden Cross, a largish pub that, according to the CAMRA Pub Heritage website has “the most spectacular pub interior in the whole of Wales”. A superb tiled exterior advertises “S A Brain & Co Ltd – Direct Importer of and Dealer in Wines and Spirits, Importer and Bonder” and the pub retains S A Brain leaded etched windows. Inside, the main bar has a fine ornate marble bar front and much green and brown tiling on the walls. 2 hand painted tiled panels show Cardiff Castle and ( in a snooker room on the left ) Cardiff’s Old Town Hall. In the lobby leading to the toilets is a tiled panel of the former Brains Brewery site in St Mary Street at around 1890. A back room has a more modern feel with sofas and brightly coloured wallpaper. On the real ale front, on my recent early afternoon visit, beers on were Brains Bitter and Brains IPA. The Bitter was a relatively pricey £ 2.75p. Brains IPA – interestingly a beer that was not on offer in any of the 4 previous Brains pubs visited earlier in the day – was on offer at £ 1.99p between 11 am and 7 pm every day. Also interestingly., the brewery section of the 2011 CAMRA Good Beer Guide makes no reference to Brains IPA. Prospective visitors to this pub need to be aware that The Golden Cross is reputedly Cardiff’s premier gay pub with regular music and karaoke most evenings. Despite not falling within the pub’s desired customer profile, I was not made to feel unwelcome by either the staff or the other customers. If you’re a fan of fine pub interiors, you might want to drop in, even if only briefly and preferably at lunch time.

Wounderful pub with a great atmosphere & excellent sunday lunch.