Beloved city boozer to reopen at museum after brick-by-brick rebuild

A BELOVED Cardiff pub has been rebuilt at St Fagans National Museum of History – and we got a first look inside as it gets set to open today.

It’s been 12 years since punters visited The Vulcan Hotel, which previously stood in Adam Street in Adamsdown, and now you’ll be able to grab a pint there once again.

The old Victorian boozer was built in 1853 and was frequented mainly by the Irish community of what was then called Newtown. Over the decades, it became a much-loved institution of the capital and even counted members of the Manic Street Preachers among its customers.

Sadly, brewer SA Brain shut down the pub in 2012 as it was no longer commercially viable, and it was scheduled for demolition. But after a campaign to save it, the owners handed it over to Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, which dismantled it brick by brick so it could be rebuilt at St Fagans.

While the exterior looks virtually the same as before, former regulars will notice it’s pretty different inside. That’s because it’s been displayed as it was in 1915, an important year for the pub: it had just undergone a major refurbishment that saw the distinctive green and brown tiles added to its façade, as well as a redesign of its interior.

When it opens to the public, the Vulcan will function as a real pub – with its bar staff even clad in traditional Edwardian attire – and serve exclusive beer brewed by Glamorgan Brewing Co.

We caught up with the Lewis family, who were the alehouse’s last owners before it shut. Sandra Lewis

became the landlady in 2010, helped out by her husband Gwyn, and then their daughter, Michelle, took over from them to manage the pub along with her partner, Jason.

They always knew its lease would run out in 2012, but they “made the most of it”, Michelle, 48, said. “[I have] good memories of all the open mic nights, the music – we used to give free shots to every performer. Most of them were students from across the road,” she laughed. “Rugby internationals were the busiest time... that’s what made us our money for the year.

But the regulars also made it – we opened on a Sunday afternoon for three hours for about six old gentlemen that used to drink in there and we used to call it ‘God’s Waiting Room’, because they were all [so old]... they were all characters.”

She added she hoped to see the return of her former regulars at the re-opened alehouse.

The last owners of the Vulcan pub before it closed. Michelle Lewis, Gwyn Lewis and Sandra Lewis

The original tiles on the front of the building, some of which were heavily cracked and chipped, were not fit to be re-used. But the company that made them in 1914 is still going and remade the tiles using the original moulds from more than a century ago.

Though it’s been reimagined as it would have looked in 1915, the Vulcan will function as a real pub and you’ll be able to have a pint

The rebuilt alehouse even has sawdust on the floor – a traditional way of soaking up spilled drinks

PICTURES: ROB BROWNE The Vulcan pub at its new home, the Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, Cardiff