The Mount Stuart (JD Wetherspoon), Cardiff

This branch of Wetherspoon's feels a bit out on a limb. Whilst it's set in an area busy with restaurants, modern apartments and other leisure facilities, there aren't too many other real ale outlets locally to justify including this pub on any crawl. I visited on a dark Wednesday evening in winter when it was reasonably quiet, but with lots of glass in this place, I could imagine it to be a pleasant place for a drink on a sunny summer afternoon. Inside is spread over 2 floors, with bars on both floors. The cask range was a little disappointing. Greene King Abbot & Sharp's Doom Bar were available as usual, with Greene King IPA on instead of Ruddles. Guest beers were limited to Brain's SA & JW Lee's Game On. Nice venue, but poor beer range and away from the rest of Cardiff's action. There are better pubs and even better branches of Wetherspoon's elsewhere in Cardiff.

The Mount Stuart is a vast purpose-built Spoons which sprawls over two floors. I counted ten hand pumps in the downstairs bar and more in the upstairs. It was very busy early on a recent Tuesday evening, so it took an age to get served. Once I had negotiated the bar, I did find a quiet spot to enjoy a pint of Blue Moon, which went down a treat.

Expensive 'spoons, due to its waterfront location at Cardiff Bay. Purpose-built establishment, with modern furniture and decor on two levels, supplemented by a front patio area for the better weather and an upstairs terrace. Fairly modest selection from the two banks of five handpumps downstairs (and the first-floor duplicates), but there were a few local offerings such as the Jemima's Pitchfork from Glamorgan Brewing.

Official site of The Mount Stuart (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Mount Stuart (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

The Mount Stuart is set in the heart of Cardiff Bay near the Mermaid Quay. It's a modern building on two floors with lots of outside drinking areas. I didn't venture upstairs. I suspect the interior is trying to make a statement which looked to me like it was the builders suddenly disappearing "to finish another job". I was here on St David's Day so there were people in for a celebratory meal but no sign of any daytime brigade. The food clubs here are more expensive than normal. The downstairs bar has two sets of five hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom doubled with the two GK beers doubled again, Black Dragon Cider and Evan Evans St David's Ale. This was one of the most pathetic beer choices I've ever seen and it's not even a Lloyds No 1. I went for the cider then left. I thought it was a complete waste of time.

The Mount Stuart is set in the old dockland area of Cardiff bay and is named after the Mount Stuart Dry Docks Company that was housed here in years gone by.The pub opened in July 2013 at a cost of 2.1M pounds and is a modern looking pub is set in a prime position on Mermaid Quay that creates excellent views over Cardiff Bay.The pub is on 2 levels and the décor pretty typical of a large amount of the pubs in this chain.The cask options were fairly standard with the upstairs bar having a more limited choice. There is a lift to the upper floor if you do not fancy the toughened glass staircase.