The Singleton Hotel, Swansea

Despite being located just over the road from Swansea's bus station, this pub seems to serve the local community rather than travellers recently arrived into the city. The pub has always been known for putting on live music and my arrival late on a Saturday evening saw a band belting out some tunes to a small but appreciative audience. The former multiple room layout is still apparent, despite the place having been opened out a lot over the years, and this is mainly due to the ground floor area being split across different levels. The lower front half is the main bar area, seeing an L shaped servery to the right with a dark wood counter and fairly unattractive bar back. The bar serves a half panelled, carpeted room with a nice tiled fireplace to the front and plenty of standard tables and chairs filling up the bulk of the space. A large ceramic sheep stands above a second fireplace, with a plain mirror and huge rugby ball also above. To the rear, a second room appears on a higher level, past a side entrance lobby, and it was here, on a lowered platform in the rear right corner, that the band was set up. A mix of high and low stool seating was available here and this part of the pub was reasonably full with punters watching the band. There are three handpulls on the bar, but one of these was off on this visit, leaving Bass as the sole ale choice and one real cider occupying the remaining handle. The Bass was in pretty good shape and the barmaid serving me seemed pleasant enough, although I got the impression that they're not used to seeing too many unfamiliar faces in here. This is a pleasant enough pub with a cosy front bar where you could happily settle down for a while whilst waiting for your bus. It's also a good spot to find some decent live music, and whilst the ale range might need some working on, I liked the feel of this place and wouldn't complain if I found myself back here again.