Ship Inn, Cardigan

Official site of Ship Inn - www.shipinnpubcardigan.co.uk

Official site of Ship Inn - www.shipinnpubcardigan.co.uk

Somehow manages to be less than the some of its parts. Absolutely superb location, right on the beach. In a row of three cottages or so. Beer wise - at midday on a Tuesday and no one else on cask, I made the decision to stick to Spanish Lout. No point risking it.... the real ales on were Brains Gold and Rev James. Service was a bit hit and miss - with two members of staff ignoring me to deal with their phones. Then the menu... bigger the menu, blander the food and this was a duvet style menu. Bizarrely, all main courses and nothing in the category of a "light bite". Surely the markup on sandwiches is enough to have a couple on offer. Lovely patio at the front.

Tresaith is a quaint Welsh seaside village set in a small sheltered sandy bay which takes its name from the River Saith which cascades as a waterfall over the cliffs onto the beach. The usual way into it is by road which winds down from the hill behind and just as you take the final bend sits the Ship Inn on a ledge above the beach. Externally it’s a building of two halves with one half in the natural brick and the other half painted but inside its mainly thick exposed brick walls. The bar area is carpeted with brown leather seating and wooden tables. But as the pub focusses on food sales the rest of the internal space is a restaurant section laid for dining. However the key selling point for me was what is outside. Firstly there is a sun terrace covered by a canopy and below this is a decent patio garden area with different styles of bench and table seating before you hit the picket fence. Both are great spots to sit and look out across the beach and the bay beyond and on a good day the coasts famous bottlenose dolphins and porpoises in the surf. The village and the pub sit on the Ceredigion Coast Path which stretches either side of Tresaith with Aberporth in one direction and the equally lovely Llangrannog in the other, which is the direction we had approached it from. And as both of these also have a Ship Inn, for the fit and able there is the chance to enjoy the coastal path whilst achieving a Three Ship Inn crawl This one is a Brains pub and the bar has three ale pump and two were operational for our visit with SA and Rev James available, and it might have been psychological, but I am sure my pint of Rev James tasted better for supping it on the outside decking staring out at the sea. We didn’t eat here and you are better off looking at Trip advisor if you intend to, but I can concur with reviews there that this pub also seemed to suffer from the unskilled service levels I was experiencing in Brains tourist pubs during our trip. But can’t blame that on the pub (more on Brains) and for an evening alfresco pint on a balmy evening as the sun sets to the west of the bay, then frankly this place is hard to beat.