Chapter Arts Centre, Canton, Cardiff

Another bar that we had walked straight by the last time we were in the Canton area of Cardiff. The bar is located in a building that is essentially an events space for the community. On our Tuesday evening visit, there were plenty of people milling around, waiting for some kind of show (possibly a theatrical one). We'd already had enough drinks to not pay any attention to other proceedings and instead made a beeline to the bar area at the rear of the building. It has a cafe bar feel and I'm fairly sure that you could get things like coffee and cakes from the bar. Although, my memory is fairly hazy! Looking at the Whatpub website, I was expecting a selection of Marston's beers. However, the beer range was much more adventurous. Wiper & True Joyful Day, Wild Beer Bibble & North Vanishing Point. A fourth handpull had Weston's Old Rosie. It was only when we sat down that I noticed that a number of other ciders were left over from a "cider festival". Also still available were Williams Brothers Biffyn, Snail's Bank Banoffee Pie, Hallet's Rum Cask, Thatcher's Stan's Cheddar Valley & Sandford Orchards Devon Scrumpy. I very nearly ordered another one!

This former school building in the back streets of the Canton neighbourhood of Cardiff is now a multi-purpose arts centre with art galleries, a cinema and music studios. It is also one of the least likely venues I've ever headed to in the quest for a good range of ales, but remarkably the canteen style bar and restaurant area has arguably one of the widest free of tie, ale ranges in the city. On this particular visit the options were Ringwood Best, Jennings Cumberland Ale, Hackney Best Bitter, Cotleigh Nutcracker Mild, Liverpool Organic 24 Carat and something from Clarence and Frederick. Additionally, there were two more casks racked up on the end of the bar, although neither of these were ready to be served. there is also a fairly standard mainstream keg beer range. I had a pretty good pint of the Hackney Best and also tried some food here, although I didn't think this was much to write home about, despite the flowery language used to describe it on the menu. You enter into a huge lobby area and pass the galleries and cinema in order to make your way to the canteen at the rear. This, as you might expect, is a huge open space with the bar and food counter down the right hand side and seating arranged in long rows down the left. The walls are plain white with a couple of modern art prints to break things up a bit and the servery employs a modern counter and simple bar back with old jugs, bottles, tankards and the like for decoration. Large boards behind the counter detail the full menu and core drinks range. The long white tables encourage table-sharing which means its easy to get chatting to other punters, but it's worth remembering that not everyone is there for the beer and there were a notable number of groups with young children present. To the rear right there is a slightly separate room made out to look like a lounge with retro wallpaper above a nice fireplace and with more art prints on show. Large folding doors/windows at the rear have 'Chapter' written across them in huge letters and lead out to a tidy looking small patio garden area. I decided to try this venue because it's an easy 10-15 minute walk away from Cardiff City's stadium, and as such, was doing a very good trade in the hours prior to kick-off, creating a good, lively atmosphere, although I can imagine this is a very different drinking experience should you turn up at quieter times. Essentially, this is very much like any museum or gallery restaurant you've ever been in, with the exception of the ale range. That doesn't make it an exciting place to eat or drink, but a visit combined with use of the centre's facilities or during busier times does just about work and I would certainly consider more pre-match pints here in the future.