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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Tris C left this review about The Flute & Tankard
Until 11 years ago this was the Promised Land, though I agree it’s probably a townhouse conversion.
It’s well described, especially by the previous reviewer who couldn’t get in here fast enough. The simple interior is matched to a flagstone floor; it has a strong live music bent too.
I went for the Pentrich Soma, marked as very good.
Yes, this is a place to linger away, getting nicely flute and tankard, far from the average circuit pubs in central Cardiff; note that it’s closed when matches are being played at the Principality. Otherwise, my Pub of the Crawl.
On 1st June 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2243 recommendations about 2200 pubs]
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Flute & Tankard
A charming,quirky pub up some steep steps with a few external tables on a small terrace.The interior starts with the bar to the left,then a series of comfy chairs and small tables ,leading back to a quiet rear with chair covers in light leather.The ceiling is low,decent mirrors enhance the space while there is a roped off first floor,unexplored by myself.The friendly welcome always helps and the interesting ale range was a blessed relief after crawling around a lot of circuit pubs. On my trip that meant Stancill Blonde and Nightshift,Padstow May Day (NBSS 4),Pentrich Soma and Moor Bitter.The range of strengths and styles mark this pub out as somewhere that cares about serving quality real ale,it's rightly in the GBG and was my pub of the crawl of the city centre.A must visit pub and one I would linger in much longer on my next visit to Cardiff.
On 27th May 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2971 recommendations about 2971 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Flute & Tankard
Looks like a converted townhouse and is quite enticing externally with a continental feel. Long and narrow within and fairly plain Jane in terms of decor, pastelly shades. At the rear is a decent seating area with inter-war era continental beer pictures and signage. GBG listed with five cask on from hipster breweries, no problems with my Anspach & Hobday and Lost & Grounded brews which were both fresh if lacking in rapid turnover on a Sunday afternoon to be truly excellent (2x NBSS 3.5) but I suspect on a Friday or Saturday they’d be clocking in at 4s. There’s also a decent cider range. It's a tidy place and one of the few genuinely bright lights in a city which, whilst having improved in the last 20 years, really is third division for quality pubs in terms of its size. 7.5
On 15th May 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5589 recommendations about 5570 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Flute & Tankard
Feel of a wine bar/taverna with tiled floor and round arm chairs. Small bar in middle of room. Small front terrace. Ok, not over comfortable but the 4 real ales are good.
On 23rd November 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1556 recommendations about 1533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Flute & Tankard
I was sitting in the Central Bar JDW and spotted this place just across the road. I recognised the name from the 2019 GBG so thought I would give it a try. As mentioned below it's a smallish rectangular room with a tiled floor and the bar counter on the front left.
There was a stack of six boxed ciders on the bar which may not be ideal in Summer. The three hand pumps had beers from local breweries although they were all around the 4% abv mark. I went for the Grey Trees Caradog's Bitter (£3.25) which was in good nick.
I thought this place was worth a look.
On 15th April 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Flute & Tankard
Having read that this small bar, handy for the Queen Street shops and train station, had recently been reopened by the same people behind the Rummer Tavern, I decided to include it as a bit of a wildcard on my recent city centre crawl. Arriving shortly after opening time at 17:00, I was not only the only customer, but seemingly the only person in the building until an apologetic landlord bounded downstairs and served me. You enter up some steps, past a small raised terrace with café style tables, into a simple room with tiled flooring and half panelled walls. A few small tables and chairs stand in the front half of the room which sees a small dark wood servery on the left hand side, with a compact canopy and part exposed brick bar back. To the rear the room turns into something approximating a lounge, with standard, tub and high backed chairs in a slightly wider space with a couple of large arched mirrors and minimal décor that included a few vintage Coca Cola adverts. Dark beams crisscross the ceiling and some sections of the wall, but it's all for visual effect and doesn't really do a lot to liven up what is essentially a pretty uninteresting space. Given the time of my visit and the lack of other customers, it was highly irritating to be subject to a dismal pop music soundtrack for the length of my stay. By the time I left the numbers had swelled so that the bar staff outnumbered the customers.
There were three hand pumps in operation, offering Otley O3 The Boss, Wye Valley Butty Bach and something from the Kite brewery. The O3 was actually in pretty good shape and whilst the number of pumps might be a bit disappointing when compared to their sister pub, it is a fairly small venue that might struggle to support many more lines. The pub is also in direct competition with a Wetherspoons pub on the other side of the road, which can't make life easy.
I'm not sure exactly how long this place has been open in its current guise, but it certainly had the feel of a place that hadn't managed to bed itself in yet. I'd be interested to see how the pub fares on a busy night, as I may well feel very differently if it was a bit livelier, but I doubt I'll ever find out as it didn't really do enough to convince me to pay a return visit.
On 19th April 2015
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3361 recommendations about 3361 pubs]