ReviewThis appropriately named pub is situated on the busy Oystermouth Road, just across from the beach, and offers excellent views out across Swansea Bay towards the Mumbles. The pub has been a landmark in the area for over a century now and used to have a stop on the Swansea - Mumbles rail line outside. In the late '90's this was known as the Fisherman and Firkin and it seemed quite a student orientated venue, before adopting its present guise with a reputation for putting on good live music and serving Thai food. The pub has an unusual wedge shaped layout as a result of its position on a road junction, and has clearly been opened out over the years, leaving a series of structural pillars to break up the space. To the left of the entrance is a restaurant area with lots of standard tables and chairs in the thin end of the wedge. The servery is positioned centrally along the rear wall and is partly obscured by one of the aforementioned pillars. It has a dark wood counter and a fairly ordinary bar back adorned with a lot of Welsh flag bunting. A large, open-plan, bare boarded area stands in front of the bar, dotted with more pillars and home to a lot of pew and standard chair seating with nice half panelled walls and a number of potted plants to brighten things up a bit. A blackboard on the end wall listed the upcoming live music and a number of other themed evenings, suggesting that the place offers a wide range of entertainment options. To the rear there is another large, open space, slightly raised from the rest of the pub, with some nice art prints on the walls, more pew and standard seating and a stack of local magazines and copies of Private Eye and the like. A few TV screens were showing muted sports coverage and there was some quiet music playing in the background. I didn't get to see the menu, but almost all of the other customers on my Saturday evening visit were enjoying the Thai food.
There was just one ale on the bar - a decent pint of Butcombe Bitter - with the other hand pump left unclipped. A mainstream keg selection was also available and I spotted a few bottles from the likes of Brewdog and Goose Island. The staff here seemed like a friendly enough bunch and my overall impression was of a far more civilised venue than the one I recall from my student days.
This pub is slightly out of the way for those wanting some food before hitting the town centre, but in many ways that is part of its appeal. I thought the place lacked a bit of character and despite clearly offering ample space for the drinker, I couldn't shake the feeling that the place is now more like a restaurant. Worth a look if you want to eat or to check what upcoming events might be on, but it didn't quite work for me.
