Nightlife
For its size, Cardiff offers a vast range of nightlife options. The city’s club scene is innovative and constantly changing, with a wide choice of venues. There is a huge choice of bars, caf-bars and restaurants – traditional, ‘trendy’ or both at once. All the action happens in the city centre and at Cardiff Bay. Bohemian-style Mill Lane, otherwise known as the ‘Caf Quarter’, offers a good choice of eating options and bars. Gay venues are generally to be found in Charles Street and elsewhere on the city centre’s southern fringe. Wednesday night is busy, when the university crowds descend on the town for student nights at various venues. Fridays and Saturdays are the traditional evenings for painting the town red. Several bars and clubs, however, are making a concerted effort to liven things up during the rest of the week, with cheap drinks, late licences, live theatre, band nights and poetry sessions.
Pubs and bars are normally licensed for the sale of alcohol Monday to Saturday 1100-2300 and Sunday 1200-2230, although many venues in the city centre are licensed until 0100 or later at weekends. Nightclubs remain open until at least 0200 and many close as late (or early) as 0600, depending on the venue and day of the week. Casinos usually close between 0300 and 0400. All casinos and some bars and clubs may refuse admission to those under 18 years old, which is the legal drinking age. Some venues do not admit anyone under 21 years. The price of a drink very much depends on the venue. In the pubs, a pint of beer can start as low as 1, although averages between 1.50 and 2. In the trendier bars and clubs, prices are often much higher.
Good sources of detailed information are available online at Virtual Cardiff (website: www.virtualcardiff.co.uk) and What’s On in Cardiff (website: www.metroplex.co.uk), which have links to most clubs, cinemas and other entertainment options.
Bars: It is said that ‘there are more Brains in Cardiff’ than elsewhere and The Old Arcade, 14 Church Street, an old-fashioned pub serving food and the locally-made Brain’s beer, is a good place to test this theory. A wide choice of traditional beers and food is also available close by at the Owain Glyndwr, also in Church Street, opposite St John’s Church. Close to Cardiff Central station, the huge but hardly intimate J D Wetherspoon’s Prince of Wales, 82 St Mary’s Street, serves very good value food and drink, including a wide selection of ‘real’ traditional ales. The Angel Tavern, in the Angel Hotel, Castle Street, also offers typical pub delights. In the bay area, The Wharf, 121 Schooner Way, Atlantic Wharf, has good views across the water and cheap food, while live music can be found at The Packet, Bute Street. The Pen & Wig, 1 Park Grove, has a good range of food and beer and a myriad of board games for rainy afternoons. For a livelier evening, try Sam’s Bar, 63 St Mary Street, in the Caf Quarter. This place is a bar/club crossover, with live band events and a late licence until 0200 on Fridays. One of the most popular and trendy bars in the centre, Bar Essential, 35 Windsor Place, is the choice of the city’s young professionals and visiting businesspeople. The Slug and Lettuce, 2-3 Working Street, is also popular. The Model Inn, 14-15 Quay Street, is a lively restaurant-bar. There are, of course, the now-ubiquitous themed ‘Irish’ and ‘Australian’ bars, although a more original interpretation can be found at the South Africa-inspired Springbok, in the UCG cinema complex, Mary Ann Street.
Casinos: Les Croupiers, 32 St Mary Street (website: www.les-croupiers.co.uk) offers roulette, blackjack, mah-jong and other gaming pursuits. Dress code is smart-casual, the minimum age for entry is 18 years and a passport or other form of identification is required. Also centrally located are Grosvenor Casino and Ladbroke Club Casino on Greyfriars Road and Park Place respectively. Both are for members only.
Clubs: Clwb Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street, is considered one of the ‘coolest’ clubs in Cardiff. It is situated over three floors and is one of the few clubs to offer action throughout the week. It showcases an eclectic mix of live music and DJs. The Wednesday three-tier menu of acid jazz, 70s funk, Britpop and indie music is hugely popular. Other mainstream venues include Liquid, Imperial Gate, St Mary Street, Zeus, Greyfriars Road, and, for the over-25s set, Rioja Bar, La Brasserie, Mill Lane. The Emporium – the younger sister of the club of the same name in London – 8-10 High Street, is an exclusive, elegant venue, hosting a variety of nights from chart classics and 70s disco to classic soul and old-school funk, with visiting big-name DJs. Cardiff’s biggest gay/mixed venue is Club X, 42 Charles Street.
Housed in the cavernous UCI building on Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff Bay, Evolution is the biggest club in Cardiff and offers a menu of mainstream house, dance and party anthems. A shuttle bus collects partygoers from the New Theatre in the city, every 15 minutes from 2115. Wednesday night is student night, with house and party anthems. Fridays are for over-18s and Saturdays are for the over-20s. Only those in smart clubbing dress will be admitted.
Comedy: The Glee Club (website: www.glee.co.uk), opened in 2001, at Bute Place on Cardiff Bay’s Mermaid Quay. It stages live acts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Comedy acts can also be seen at The Wharf, Schooner Way.
Live music: Live music is easy to find in many bars around the city – Cardiff has an extremely active music scene. Entry is often free and where admission is charged it is rarely expensive. Caf Jazz, in the Sandringham Hotel, St Mary Street, is home to the Welsh Jazz Society and hosts top local performers as well as international acts. In addition to Clwb Ifor Bach (see Clubs), live acts can be found at the Cardiff Coal Exchange, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, the Toucan Club, 95-97 St Mary’s Street, for Latin American and salsa, and the University Student’s Union, in Cathays Parks – many events are restricted to NUS card-holders only. A newer venue, the Mount Stuart, West Bute Street, is another option in the Cardiff Bay area (website: www.themountstuart.com). For really big acts, Cardiff International Arena, Mary Ann Street, and occasionally the Millennium Stadium, Westgate Street, are the prime venues.
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Nightlife