Fagins Craft Beer House & Art Cafe, Cardiff

Visited 20/03/25 Four hand pumps, two with clips turned round and the other two dispensing fine ales from Treforest Brewery, the Twti Ffruti, a light ale, and the Pretty Fly for a Magpie, a strong IPA. A long line of taps dispensing the keg options of Carling, Peroni, Madri, Coors, Thatchers Haze, Thatchers Gold, Aspall original and their fruity variant that I haven't seen in many venues, Worthington CF, Jute Session IPA from Salt, Siren Suspended in Psychadelic, Deya Steady Rolling Man, Verdant Light Bulb, the Black Heart and Punk IPA from BrewDog, Guinness, Blue Moon and the Mikey Rayer All Dayer. So maybe not a stellar range by craft venue standards, but this is Taffs well FfFfS! The venue is a regular in the GBG and the right-hand wall shows framed front cover prints of the last 18 editions. The venue is stone floored with the bar counter on the left-hand side. Regular tables and chairs occupy the floor space here in front of the bar counter and there is a TV on the wall and a log burner (neither of them "switched on" during my visit). The venue stretches back a good way to the right of the bar counter, with some sofas and regular tables and chairs in an area that reverts to being boarded. The lighting here is quite subdued and clearly from my visit on its late afternoon opening time it is a super popular venue in Taffs Well. I really liked this place, and it is definitely well worth seeking out.

Now known as Fagins Craft Beer House & Art Cafe, this place looks very much like a traditional pub from the outside, but with its single square-shaped room, it actually feels like a micropub inside. My visit on a Wednesday afternoon found the pub lacking atmosphere. Just 2 people were in when I arrived. 1 on a laptop turned out to be the gaffer, whilst another guy was sat reading a book. Music was playing which helped to liven things up slightly, but it's often difficult to judge a pub when there are so few in. 2 real ales are sold here. For my visit, these were Thornbridge Jaipur & Saltaire Blonde. A third handpull was clipped with Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Scrumpy. Craft beers were Brewdog Punk IPA & Black Heart & Crafty Devil Mikey Rayer All Dayer.

Official site of Fagins, contains menu and real ale list - www.faginsalehouse.co.uk

Official site of Fagins, contains menu and real ale list - www.faginsalehouse.co.uk