Raise a glass to these grand old pubs of Cardiff

CARDIFF is a city full of historic pubs.

You don’t have to wander far to find an old watering hole that existed before Cardiff was even a city.

After pouring pints for decades or sometimes even centuries, these pubs have become ingrained in the city.

But after existing for so long it is often forgotten how they ended up with their name.

From The Three Elms to The Old Arcade, here are the stories behind how some of Cardiff’s most well-known pubs got their names:

Built in 1844, but the building appears on Cardiff maps from as early as 1610.

Now the pub is always found packed on a matchday and is a popular spot for sports fans.

But it was originally called The Birdcage Inn because the landlord liked to make birdcages and sell them from behind the bar.

The covered walkway that runs from Church Street into the market has been there since the 18th Century, giving it its current name.

A firm favourite in the city, the building has been in use since 1610.

Although it isn’t known when it first became a pub, it was once brilliantly named The Van of Flesh Tavern.

The pub gained the name as it was then directly opposite Cardiff’s slaughterhouse and cattle market at the time.

In 1858 it was known as The Cattle Market Tarvern.

When Cardiff became a city in 1905 it became The City Arms, long after the slaughterhouse had moved to the outskirts of the city.

The well-known pub is thought to be the oldest in the city, having served customers since the early 18th Century.

The pub takes it names from a rummer, a large glass or cup used for wine in the olden days.

The name comes from the pub’s association with the Welsh infantry regiment, the Royal Welsh, who have a goat for a mascot.

The famous goat, often seen ahead of Wales rugby internationals, is looked after by a soldier called the goat major.

In 1813 the pub was known simply as The Goat.

In 1873 it was renamed The Bluebell, before it finally became The Goat Major in 1995.

The Golden Cross pub sits on a site where people have been drinking for 171 years.

Although completely unrecognisable from the 19th Century, the Golden Cross pub is all that remains from a time when that area of the city was known as a “den of infamy”.

Nearby Charlotte Street and Whitmore Lane were deemed so bad they were erased from the map altogether in the late 1800s.

The exact origin of the name isn’t clear, but one Cardiff historian said it may come from its location.

Anthony Rhys, who has been researching and writing a book about the people of Charlotte Street and Whitmore Lane and has written at length about the pub said: “It was on the crossroads of Bute Street and Whitmore Lane so that possi bly influenced gave it a glow!” it, maybe the gaslights

When The Packet opened in the 19th Century Cardiff’s docks were a hub of commerce.

Ships brought goods into the port from across the world, and people from across the globe often stayed to make the city their home.

Although the docks are now unrecognisable, The Packet is one of the few remaining institutions from that time when the area bustled with trade.

The pub is named after the packet ships that carried mail to and from British outposts and has been a part of the docks’ history since 1864.

Apparently there’s an unwritten rule that if a sailor is in the venue when the tide is out they should be given free lodging for the night.

In 1871 the pub opened as The Pear Tree. It was later bought by the American