Whilst I have my favourite gems of pubs throughout the country and even one in the USA I am picking a pub much closer to home to nominate as my favourite.
“A wretched hive of scum and villainy”
is what old Ben Knobi tells young Luke Skywalker when he attempts to comment on the space port Mos Eisley. If I’d have been Skywalker I would have probably forgotten about the Force, the princess and flying X wings and immediately organised an all-dayer in the beloved place because dark and dingy with interesting mutant life forms is my bag baby!!!
Dark and dingy with interesting life forms then leaves me straight on to my favourite pub in Cardiff – The Tavistock which is off City Road in Roath.
I have been a regular visitor to this pub and on many occasions was joined by Lovechickens in official and unofficial visits. The bar where we sit is particularly dark which is something I like in a pub – as our glorious treasurer once said in Brisbane
‘Darkness Is my medium’ and for once I tend to agree.
The floors are wooden and the seating comfortable however last time I went in there I noticed some chairs that wouldn’t look out of place outside a west Wales café. There are 2 telly’s and they are in great places – this is a fantastic place for watching Friday night rugby before getting into town. Another bonus which could be said for other pubs in the Welsh Capital is that it has a skittles alley which is a great place to start off a sesh in. I am brilliant at this game and I won £20 off Roberts the last time I played on his stag do. I now bet him a tonne that I could do it again.
As for personnel - the Tavistock is great, the locals love their drinking and their rugby and on one occasion when me and Tew (1988-2002) went to watch the Wales France match – the locals supplied cheese and red wine for half time. We only went out to watch the match but pissed up on wine we ended up on a big one – bloody cheese. The old landlord was Alan who was a legend but I cant help but think that the new one Keith is going the same way. A young landlord who is up for a laugh – during the New Zealand match last year he made me and the King of them all (Neil) neck 2 pints – oh how he laughed when I spued all mine back into the glass in front of a packed pub.
That was a great time however I have 2 favourites. The first one was watching the third test of the 2001 lions. The match was on about 8 or 9 in the morning and the Lovechickens had to show their ties on the door in order to get in. They had closed the curtains and left the heating on and this was in the middle of summer!!! It was boiling so of course we drank even more! There were about 15 of us and when the match finished they opened the curtains and the pub and most of us were absolutely twatted – how we laughed when we realised it wasn’t even midday.
My best memory was for pub golf in 2004. We had Lovechickens from all over the UK and were joined by our Chickens from over the pond. The period we spent in the Tavistock was extended as we were having so much fun and was the best laugh and then we had to order 8 taxi’s to take us to town – delight. I think that that was the only time it has ever featured in a proper cap but what I delightful day it was and I am proud to say – I was there!
Although unfortunately for Morg they don’t do food and I know Chez wished there was more skirt and King of them all wishes there was at least some sort of contemporary jazz and/or line dancing but it is a favourite of mine and I still wish to put forward the Tavistock as one of my favourite pubs and onto the official list of Great pubs for the Lovechickens RFC.
kind regards jessies
The Fergatron
Joint Overlord of the Lovechickens RFC
LC1/2
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