Golden Cross, Cardiff

The Golden Cross has the most spectacular pub interior in all of Wales. Built in 1903 with excellent S A Brain & Co. Ltd. lettering on its colourful faïence exterior, which gives you an indication of what to expect inside. In 1978 it was under threat of demolition for road widening but a campaign saved it and then Brains carried out a restoration, reopening the pub in 1986. On entering you will see some spectacular Craven Dunnill decorative tilework on the walls of the main public bar in various shades of brown and green on the dado and yellow and green above, topped off with a colourful floral pattern frieze above. The tiles also run up the side of the open staircase. The long L-shaped counter is one of only fourteen remaining ceramic bar counters left in the whole of the UK and features grotesques on the frontage and is the reason for its inclusion on the National Inventory. There is another equally impressive counter in Wales at the Waterloo, Newport.

Other Heritage Pubs with a ceramic bar counter are the Black Horse, Preston, Lancashire; Burlingtons Bar (at the Town House), St Annes on Sea, Lancashire; Mountain Daisy, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear; Red Lion, Erdington, Birmingham; Polar Bear, Hull, East Yorkshire; White Hart Hotel, Hull, East Yorkshire; Garden Gate, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire; Crown, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Other examples can be found at Horse & Jockey, Wednesbury, West Midlands where a small part on the left has been lost; Castle, Manchester City Centre; Hark to Towler, Tottington, Greater Manchester where the bar has been moved; Waterloo Hotel & Bistro, Newport, Gwent, Wales which has no public bar facility; and there is one in China Red which was the Coach & Horses, Dunswell, East Yorks and now operates as a Chinese Restaurant.

There are also two hand-painted pictorial panels – the large one in the public bar is of Cardiff Castle in 1903. In the left-hand room is a hand-painted pictorial tile painting of the Old Town Hall in 1863. It was one of two completed by Craven Dunnill of Jackfield, Shropshire for the opening of the pub in 1903. (There is also a tiled panel of Brains Old Brewery in St Mary Street, Cardiff at around 1890 in the left hand lobby but this dates probably from the reopening in 1986).

Other magnificent displays of tiled paintings can be found at Café Royal, Edinburgh, Scotland; Mountain Daisy, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear; General Havelock, Hastings, Sussex, East; Central Bar, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland; Rose Villa Tavern, Hockley, Birmingham; Dolphin, Hackney, London E8; and St James Tavern, Soho, London W1.

The impressive original bar-backs remain in the public bar and in the lounge (right), but the counter in the latter is modern. There has been some opening-up to the rear of the public bar and this area, which is popular with diners, has modern fittings. The pub has a good set of Brain's leaded windows. Please note that this is Cardiff city centre's premier gay pub in the evenings with live music late Sun. and late Wed. Open all day until 2am (3am Sat.).

In Cardiff there is one other notable ceramic pub frontage - Queens Vaults, 29 Westgate Street CF10 1DA (opposite the Millennium Stadium) with a bright yellow one including elaborate lettering of ‘Queens Vaults', 'Wines', 'Ind Coope & Co. Ltd. Entire', ‘Entire’ being a beer better known as porter.

(There was another at The Vulcan, 10 Adam Street, Cardiff CF24 2FH, with a lovely brown and green glazed ceramic frontage)