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The Cottage, Cardiff

25 St. Mary Street
Cardiff
CF10 1AA

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Blackthorn _ left this review about The Cottage

Reputedly one of Cardiff’s oldest pubs, it certainly looks the part with it’s black wooden frontage, curved leaded windows and gold lettering. It was then perhaps something of a disappointment on getting inside, to find that it’s clearly been “renovated” at some point, and whilst it’s not unpleasant, it certainly does have any of the cosy olde worlde ambiance that I had hoped for.

Internally it consists of one long and relatively narrow room, with sanded wooden boards on the floor and red painted embossed wallpaper on much of the ceiling. White wood panelling was on the lower part of the walls which lent it a slightly elegant feel perhaps, with plain plasterwork above. A few mirrors and bits of artwork were dotted around as well as a ledge for vertical drinking opposite the bar counter, whilst the lighting was some quite old fashioned looking globe style fitments. A raised area up a couple of steps at the rear was perhaps a little cosier, with fitted and padded banquette seating, pale green paintwork, varnished wood panelling on the ceiling and an attractive stained-glass roof window.

Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Butty Bach, Brains Dark and Wainwright’s Gold. Ciders meanwhile were Aspall’s, and Stowford Press in both the regular and Dark Berry varieties.

On 21st December 2023 - rating: 6
[User has posted 1937 recommendations about 1850 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Will Larter left this review about The Cottage

This pub has been well described by PSM below, and its conflicting styles, caught between traditional old pub and modern city bar, are what make it just miss the "must visit" category that it might otherwise have attained. It's still an attractive old building, with its incredibly narrow frontage emphasised by the fact that there are two doors (one disused); the bar is also an attractive one, and the row of hand pumps featuring Brains beers is impressive. Like so many bars in city centre shopping streets, there's a lack of character about The Cottage. I wouldn't mind calling in again, though, as my half of Brains Dark was in very good condition and at a pretty reasonable £1.45 too.

Date of visit: 5th October 2017

On 18th October 2017 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3700 recommendations about 3439 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Cottage

Dating back to the mid 1700's, this traditional Brains house on the city's main boozing strip is reportedly one of Cardiff's oldest pubs. It has a similar deep but narrow layout to several other older pubs in the city centre, with a porch leading into a light front seating area with plenty of standard tables and chairs under the attractive latticed front window. The servery appears mid way into the pub on the left hand wall and has a nice dark wood counter and bar back, with the latter boasting a rather grand integral clock on top, flanked by some interesting ceramic pieces. High tables and stools run opposite the bar whilst further along there are some plush padded banquettes, including a snug little booth to the right. A couple of steps lead up to the rear, bare boarded area where more standard tables and chairs and a single curved banquette round out the seating options, with bell pushes still in-situ at certain points. A hatch on the rear wall allows a peep into the kitchen and the area is brightened considerably by a large stained glass skylight. There are loads of black and white photos on show throughout the pub, including many depicting local scenes and various mirrors enhance the traditional décor, although this is somewhat countered by the presence of numerous blackboards promoting various nights and TV screens showing muted daytime shows whilst music was quietly piped throughout.
The bar offered a broad selection of Brains ales, with the options on this visit comprising Bitter, SA, SA Gold, Dark, Reverend James, Oat Natural and Bread of Heaven. I decided to try the ever reliable Dark, which went down very well and was served by a very chipper barman.
This is a pretty solid city centre pub with no real outstanding features other than it being a respectable presence in a part of town where drinking barns prevail. It's probably the best place in the city centre to sample Brains beers if that's your thing, but there are more interesting places just a short walk away.

On 18th April 2015 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Danny O'Revey left this review about The Cottage

Fine City Centre drinking den, quite near station.

Full range of Brains beers and a food menu.

Long pub with bar along one wall, bigger than you think from the outside. Upright drinking perches opposite the bar and a more loungey feel towards the rear end. Lots of mirrors in black frames make it look wider.

Very nice. Modern background music

On 8th May 2013 - rating: 9
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


John Bonser left this review about Cardiff Cottage Hotel

Now just called The Cottage.

A handsome and striking black exterior leads into a long narrow single bar pub with a polished wood floor and a traditionally decorated, but somewhat chainy feeling interior. Bar stools run down the right hand wall opposite the bar with a ledge for drinks. There’s some interesting photos of old Cardiff and Welsh icons such as Aneurin Bevin and Anthony Hopkins. A more comfortable area towards the rear of the pub doubles up as a restaurant area at lunchtimes. A few high tables and perches at the front of the pub by the window indicate a desire to attract the younger circuit crowd.
5 Brains beers were on, including Reverend James. The Brains Dark - £ 2.45p – was an excellent pint. The pub is listed in the CAMRA 2011 Good Beer Guide.
This is a reasonably attractive pub in the City Centre to sample Brains beers

On 22nd November 2010 - rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Quinno _ left this review about Cardiff Cottage Hotel

A very interesting exterior, painted back with intricate leaded bowed windows makes the place look enticing but in reality the long rectangular interior isn’t much to write home about. An abundance of mirrors gives the impression of it being much bigger than it actually is and there’s a lot of dead floorspace given over to vertical drinking. A Brains outlet, the range and quality of said brewery’s ales were good. A case of not judging a book by its cover…it was OK but I felt a bit disappointed in all honesty as I’d built it up to be more. Perhaps worth popping in to see if there’s a Brains beer you haven’t come across elsewhere in the city, the Dark seems to be a regular fixture in here.

On 18th June 2009 - rating: 6
[User has posted 5050 recommendations about 5033 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


graham dunbavan left this review about Cardiff Cottage Hotel

Used this classic pub to avoid christmass shopping!!

On 15th December 2008 - rating: 8
[User has posted 78 recommendations about 77 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Dale Miles left this review about Cardiff Cottage Hotel

Lovely pub sells brains beers, this is always the first pub I will visit during my time in cardiff, great atmosphere beer and food, only a short walk from the cardiff central and bus stations.

On 25th May 2008 - rating: 8
[User has posted 184 recommendations about 182 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Alan Winfield left this review about The Cottage

The Cottage is a decent looking pub that has a narrow frontage,the pub is situated on one of Cardiff's main shopping streets.
Once inside there was a single room which which ran quite a way back.
The pub is a Brains tied house,there were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Brains Dark which was a very nice drink,the other beers were Brains bitter,SA and Rev James.
The pub was fairly quite on my early Saturday dinner visit,i was quite happy having a drink in this pub.

Pub visited 28/5/2005

On 28th May 2005 - rating: 8
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]