Remembering the days of city’s ‘proper pubs’...but where exactly were they?
IT began with a question. It ended (of sorts) after a three-hour virtual stroll down Memory Lane.
The question was innocent enough: ace photographer Alistair Corbett asked, “What was the name of the pub that used to be next to The Cardiff Arms, in Swansea?”
I ventured to suggest The Cornish Mount Inn, further down The Strand.
But that “didn’t ring any bells” with Alistair and his pals.
For someone who prides himself on his knowledge of Swansea pubs in days gone by, this was a ‘bitter’ personal blow.
Talk of Swansea pubs always takes me back to the days in the early 1980s when I was a young reporter on the South Wales
Evening Post - days when Swansea had proper pubs that served proper beer, not the ‘mini theme parks’ we are now offered.
I can still hear the ‘whoosh’ of the handpump as Arthur Scott, the sadly-departed landlord of ‘The Duke’ in Wind Street, would pour a pint of Worthington Best Bitter.
Pints (they usually came in quantities of more than one) were often accompanied by corned beef/ white bread sandwiches, made by Arthur’s wife Mags.
“It was,” my former colleague Jonathan Isaacs always reminds me, ”the best pint of beer in Swansea.”
I would never dream of disagreeing with the Post’s former industrial correspondent.
But, back to the original question. Apparently, a century ago Swansea had more than 228 licensed premises.
And I’m very grateful to the team who run the local history website https://ididitthisway.wordpress. com/introduction/
They provided me with that interesting Memory Lane diversion.
The site has a whole list of old pubs that once straddled The Strand.
They include - Cambrian Arms; Cardiff Arms; Crown and Anchor; Eagle Inn; George Inn; Globe Inn; Green Dragon Inn; Liverpool Arms; Cornish Mount Inn, Broadquay; Neptune Inn; Pelican Inn; Ship and Castle; Shipping Gazette Inn; The Griffin; Tiger Inn; Three Mariners; Welcome to Town.
I still don’t think we’ve got the answer to “What was the name of the pub that used to be next to The Cardiff Arms?”
But perhaps some readers out there can help?