The Wig & Pen, Swansea

This spacious single room pub on one of the main roads into the city centre is accessed up a set of steep steps from road level. Once inside, the servery runs down the right hand wall with a vast open space opposite full of seating. The bulk of the room is carpeted with neutral shaded walls and some wood panels. High tables and stools stand opposite the bar with standard tables and chairs filling the rest of the room save for a few sofas under the large front windows. The place is fairly featureless, although I did notice some partitioning screens with glass panes bearing the pub’s name or a wig motif, but otherwise the pub seriously lacks character and the only attempts to decorate the place seem to be a few black and white photos dotted around the walls. One slightly unusual feature is the large stained glass skylight over the bar area, but this can’t compensate for the fact that the pub has been opened out too much and lost any sense of identity. Beyond the bar, the room extends further to the rear, where a small games area, complete with pool table, dartboard and trophy cabinet, can be found, as well as a TV screen which was showing a repeat of the weekend’s Grand Prix when I visited. In lieu of a rear beer garden, there is a large front patio with numerous benches which overlook the road from their elevated position. Three hand pumps offered Greene King Abbot Ale, Sheps Spitfire (£3.00) and Wells Bombardier. The Spitfire was so-so and the barmaid was fairly brusque in serving me. We stopped off here for a bite to eat in the evening and found a cheap and cheerful menu from which I had a decent pie and chips. I can’t really get excited about this pub, as I found it all very bland. Its inclusion in recent editions of the GBG says more about the sorry state of Swansea’s beer scene than it does about the pub’s beer range. Worth a look in passing, but not much more.