The Dock, Cardiff

A cavernous pub right on the waterfront in Cardiff Bay that seems to go on for ever. Every time you think you’ve finished exploring, there is yet another room further on again. It’s split over two levels, and in addition to this there is outside seating on some decking at ground level, and two balconies offering great views across the bay. The downstairs bar has a part tiled, part wooden floor and various painted arches that seem intended to remind you of a castle. Two sweeping wooden staircases lead to the wood floored upper bar, and here the castle theme continues with some fake stonework. Further stairs lead to a “crow’s nest” which looks to be a reasonably decent seating area with an attractive painted ceiling. Various nautical memorabilia is scattered around. Unusually, a Costa coffee is attached to the pub, and is effectively another room off of it. There was a decent enough “pub grub” menu at reasonable prices. This was divided in to sections such as Light Bites, Burgers, Favourites, etc. A Ham, Egg & Chips was decent enough value at £6.95, especially bearing in mind the location, and came with a thick wedge of ham and a couple of eggs. Service at the bar was a bit slow, but other than that I’ve got no complaints. Beers on tap were all from the Brains stable, with their Bitter, Dark, SA and SA Gold. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately.