Queen’s Bar & Brasserie, Newport

Official site of Queen’s Bar & Brasserie - www.queensbnb.com

Official site of Queen’s Bar & Brasserie - www.queensbnb.com

This place is actually closer to Newport Rail Station than the nearby John Wallace Linton. It's a full blown Lloyds beneath a residential hotel. How can they possibly square having a weekend nightclub open until two or three in the morning with hotel rooms above it? As you enter, the front area could be a hotel bar with comfy looking seating but ruined by a TV screen on one side showing sport. I got here at around eight on a Friday night so there was already music blasting. The area behind this was a complete shambles. It overlooks the Lloyds disaster area down some steps or a lift. This can only be described as an attempt to recreate Dante's Inferno. The room leading down into Hell had a couple of TVs blasting out rugby which was competing with the music and the howls of torment from below. I went back to the bar which has seven hand pumps and a typical rubbish Lloyds choice with the IPA version of the JDW Trio Of Doom but with IPA & Abbot doubled, the International Shepherd Neame Todd the Axeman and Brain's Rev James. I went for the Todd the Axeman which was in good nick and found a seat in a relatively quiet area. I then spotted a young blond girl who was completely off her face but had two more sober (in comparison) friends trying to get her to leave. I didn't hang around for long but by the time I left I had to negotiate a throng of smokers, bouncers and the legless blond plus her friends. It may be alright in the week but on a Friday or Saturday night this place is a total disaster. I noticed that quite a few of the unfavourable reviews on Trip Advisor had a stock reply cut and pasted in, not good at all. I headed East to a JDW out in the Newport suburbs.

As noted below, this is quite a distinctive building. A Lloyds JDW though seems an odd choice for that brand. Enter to a small (by Spoons standards) main room containing the bar; quite nicely done with banquettes and seating zones. Left sidestep to a larger, blander open-plan rear room. Mushroom and maroon paintwork. All pumps bar two holding JDW stagers with Abbot and GK IPA doubled up…my Otter Amber was a decent drop, at least. Fortunate enough to see a sign by the counter advertising a massive bottle sell-off £1.50 a go. It's ok here but the dearth of guest ales makes it a hard sell for a revisit.

Distinctive building, with its blue-and-white painted façade and an imposing portico (providing useful shelter for the doormen on unnecessary duty whilst the Wales v Fiji rugby international was being shown on the large screen and numerous TVs within). The split-level interior is perhaps not as large as one might expect, but the place still operates as a hotel so some space is taken up by the reception area, etc. Seven handpumps on the bar counter, with stronger real ales such as Rhymney Export being priced at £2.35. Handy for the station (or for breakfast if staying at the Travelodge on the other side of the road).