Trev’s top of the hops
ENJOYING a few beers while listening to your record collection is many people’s idea of a dream night-in.
Trev Mccabe, who’s originally from Neath, has turned this passion into a profession as he’s the owner of Pop ‘n’ Hops, a record and craft beer shop on Cardiff ’s Whitchurch Road, which stocks a colossal 500 varieties of beer.
If you’re into hoppy pale ales, mouth-puckering sour beers or boozy imperial stouts then Pop ‘n’ Hops has one of the biggest selections in South Wales. Trev opened the shop in 2017, having relocated with his partner from London where he ran a small Indie record label called Oddbox, which released around 40 albums and 100 singles.
Trev had always wanted to open a record shop so he set about making this dream a reality when he arrived in Cardiff.
But, Trev didn’t think a record shop could be successful enough by itself.
“The beer bit came about purely because I thought a record shop on its own is not going to work so I thought, ‘what else do I like?’ and it was simply ‘oh yeah, beer!’” said Trev.
Pop ‘n’ Hops initially opened on a temporary lease in 2017 but due to the business’s success, they moved to a bigger venue next door last year. Trev has continued to diversify by introducing drinking in, meet the brewer events, a pop-up coffee shop and cold storage.
Most impressively, he’s grown his beer range from 100 types to around 500: “I was aiming for 300 beers when I started and we got there and it stayed pretty constant for ages. And then lockdown happened and it became really difficult to buy beer so I had to buy pallets’ worth of beer and it just meant I was buying 30 different beers instead of 10 each week and then within three months I had 500 beers,” said Trev.
As part of his range, Trev usually stocks 10 to 15 different Welsh breweries; a reflection of the make-up of the Welsh brewing scene.
“The Welsh brewing scene is very different to what I’m used to coming out of London. I think London was all hip and happening, there was Beavertown, The Kernel and a whole raft of other breweries that have come along since which are making what I consider modern craft beer,” said Trev.
“Wales has a more traditional element to its brewing, which I think is absolutely fine because I came from a history of drinking real ale. It’s just not something that I need to sell in the shop because you can get a lot of it in supermarkets or local delis.”
Early next year, Trev hopes to install draught beer taps. It’s part of Pop ‘n’ Hops’ continued move away from its original focus of selling records.
“The records have definitely taken a back seat. They were always the smaller partner in the business – beer was the bread and butter and records were nice to have,” said Trev.
“The plans in the future are to have fewer records but focus on new releases and just do a curated selection of vinyl. Even if we move away from selling vinyl, there’ll be turntables in the shop so vinyl enthusiasts are welcome to bring their records and play them whilst they’re having a beer.”