Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Top 100 with ETA
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Pilot, Penarth
Penarth
CF64 1DJ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
David Walton left this review about The Pilot
Visited 01/10/25
Four hand pumps all dispensing and some excellent offerings of the Pocket Rocket session pale ale from Arbor, Independence a US pale from the Bristol Beer Factory, HPA from Wye Valley and Haymaker cider from Gwynt y Ddraig. Keg was contained and a reasonable selection of Staro, Estrella, Carling, Aspall, Thatchers Gold, Guinness, Fandango from Wye Valley, Barry Island IPA from Brains and the Shanghai-La session IPA from Arbor.
I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that this would be such a fantastic venue from the outside appearance and location. Before espying the beer offering, I was expecting to have a Guinness or John Smiths. I entered the right-hand side bar area where the counter was on the left-hand wall, tall stool seating at the bar counter in a bare boarded front part of the room with dark stone tiling towards the rear, which provided access also to the v popular outside seating at the front of the venue. Seating via regular tables and chairs, the odd sofa and almost all seating taken, the venue doing a roaring food trade. The other side has a similar bar counter offering the same beer range and of similar layout, equally rammed on my visit, with regular tables and chairs largely occupied by diners. This is what a successful pub looks like, not the only horse in town but great beer range and decent food offering has it a country mile ahead of the other horses in the Penarth pub race. I noticed an award at the side of the bar counter that the venue had won the CAMRA regional award for Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend for 2024. No surprise based on my visit here, worth heading here as a destination.
On 8th March 2026
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1349 recommendations about 1332 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Pilot
Right up by the pinnacle of the Penarth headland, this looks from the outside to be an unprepossessing local. The interior has two rooms, one behind the other. We sat in the front bar which didn’t really inspire - laminate floor, snot green third length wood panelling and the bar which was entirely snot, décor straight from a trip down to the local Home Sense and didn’t feel particularly welcoming on a cold wet weekday afternoon. The star, I later discovered, is the rear dining room which is more homely and has fantastic views out over the water. Four pumps at the bar with just one ale on (oh-oh!), however it was an excellent VOG Chaos (NBSS 4) cool and crisp and clearly poured through before serving, as we were the only punters in after opening. Also a Stans cider on another pump. It’s certainly doing excellent beer and deserves its GBG slot but ultimately it's a bit of a middle class foody kind of place first and foremost rather than a drinking pub. 6.5
On 4th July 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5992 recommendations about 5971 pubs]