Raising a glass to the Cardiff hostelries of years gone by
CARDIFF Remembered reader Rhys James is seeking information with regard to a Cardiff pub called the Cockney Pride.
It was apparently situated in St Mary Street, or St Mary’s Street as it was known in days long gone, and his query comes following the location of the parchment of paper shown on this page.
Cardiff author and Welsh rugby expert Gwyn Prescott informs me that in the Cardiff Rugby Football Club opening of the new club ground programme – when Cardiff played the President of the Welsh Rugby Union XV on October 31, 1970 – there is an advert which reads “Before and after the match meet... at Henekey Inns (Cockney Pride) St Mary Street, Cardiff.”
The manager then was John Price who had played for Cardiff and who, incidentally, had been in the same class as me in St Peter’s RC Secondary Modern School.
So where was Henekey Inns situated in St Mary Street? Was it in the same building as the earlier Cockney Pride?
Please contact me know if you have the answer.
Back in 2014 I received an email from a David Jones who wrote: “I was interested in your recent mention of the Old Royal Hotel, Hayes, Cardiff.
“In 1872 the licensee was my greatuncle Samuel Dimond.
Reference to the Cockney Pride pub
“He was the first ever licensee of the Windsor Hotel, Stuart Street, Docks, Cardiff in 1855 after previously running his own greengrocers at 10 Bute Street.
“In 1867 he took over the Rhymney Hotel near the prison in Adam Street and from there he went to the Penarth Hotel in Penarth in 1868.”
He went on to say: “At the time of running the Old Royal Hotel he also had a fish, game and poultry shop at 19 Queen Street, Crockherbtown.
“After the Old Royal Hotel, in 1881 he became the first ever licensee of the Griffin Inn, Gilfach Coch, which still trades to day.
“He died in Cardiff in 1895.” Meanwhile, some Cardiffians will recall the Alexandra pub which stood on the corner of Station Terrace and Queen Street.
It is listed in the old Cardiff Borough Records as “Alexandra Crockherbtown (c.1875). North-west corner of Taff Vale Approach. An early Victorian house with a porch on the pavement, modernised c.1895.”
One hotel which today’s Cardiffians won’t remember is the Cardiff Arms Hotel in Broad Street at the west end of Angel Street (1792), which occupied the site of a very ancient building known as Red House or “Ty Coch”, a name by which the inn was well known.
This pub was demolished in 1878, in the course of street improvements, and its licence was transferred to a house erected near the old site but which took the name of The Angel from another discontinued hostelry in Angel Street (now Castle Street).
The Cardiff Arms Park stadium was so called after this house.
Then there was The Rising Sun which stood on the west side of The Hayes, a little south of Wharton Street, and on the corner of Rising Sun Court and which was demolished in 1898.
The Hole in the Wall, which had been built around 1848, and which stood somewhere near the north side of Wharton Street, was reported to have served pints between 18481879.
Another long-gone city centre drinking den was The Golden Lion between St Mary Street and Barry Lane. It was demolished in 1898.
The mail coach horses belonging to the South Wales Carriage Company were stabled in the yard and later the David Morgan store was built over it.
The Unicorn on the North side of Smith Street – now Queen Street – was said to have stood on the site of the old town wall and it was demolished around 1877.
There are also some Cardiffians who will remember the name Fulton and Dunlops.
This was home to wine and spirits vaults which at one time was known as The Green Dragon on the corner of Duke Street and St John’s Square or St John Street as it is officially known.
One city centre pub that Cardiffians will be well aware of is the Golden Cross on Hayes Bridge Road.
But they might not know that it opened in 1849 as the Shield and Newcastle Tavern.
In 1855 it was renamed the Castle Inn and it didn’t become the Golden Cross until 1863.
I am compiling another Cardiff Pubs book and if you have any pictures or anecdotes you would like me to consider for inclusion I would be delighted to hear from you.
In the meantime, a Cardiff Remembered reader tried to get in touch with me earlier this week with regard information about the Stag and Hounds pub which used to be in Frederick Street.
Unfortunately, the telephone number he left had the last digit missing – please get back in touch!
You can send your stories/pictures to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or email brianlee4@virginmedia.com – please include a contact telephone number.