End of our eight-year Cardiff pub crawl
IT was an idea their wives came up with – but two friends can now proudly say they have visited every pub in the Welsh capital.
Richard Carpenter and Douglas Friedli have made 260 visits to pubs all across Cardiff.
It has taken them eight years to complete their ambitious mission.
The idea started at Douglas’ wife Jo’s 40th birthday.
Richard said: “We were talking about how many pubs there are in Wales and would it be possible to go to them all.
“Then my wife Danielle said ‘Why don’t you start with every pub in Cardiff?” And the rest, as they say, is history. The first pub was Richard’s local, The Heath, on September 1, 2009.
On the same day they went to three others, The Gower (since closed), The Crwys and The Flora.
Douglas, from Whitchurch, Cardiff, said he has tweeted a summary and a score of each pub immediately after a visit.
None has scored 10 out of 10 but, before it was dismantled, The Vulcan in Adam Street got the highest mark. Of those surviving, Urban Taphouse in the city centre was one of the highest ranking.
They have tried to make monthly visits to the pubs, having a drink in every pub visited, but never a soft drink.
Favourites have included a good pint of SA in the City Arms, or a craft beer.
A whisky-infused beer was their least favourite. They joke that when they started their challenge, craft beer didn’t actually exist.
To get their master list, stored on Douglas’ spreadsheet, they got a list of all premises licensed by Cardiff council, discounting any where you had to be a member. Social clubs and anywhere you had to pay entry were discounted.
“There were some pubs we thought we weren’t going to enjoy but some of those turned out to be some of the best.”
In one, where they were “the only ones wearing formal shoes”, they were asked if they were the drugs squad. In another Richard had his coat “acquired”.
When they went to the rebranded Yates’ on Greyfriars Road, they were sharing their pints with EastEnders characters Kat and Nigel.
But there was another problem – pubs kept opening and closing – so they had to make return visits. They estimate that of the 260 they visited, 213 remain open.
Their last pub involved a speed boat ride to Flat Holm Island for a pint in the Gull and Leek – with their families.