The Roath Park

The Roath Park is a traditional styled pub that stocks a full bar and provides pub style food. Actually located on city road and miles away from the roath park it has an odd name. One of the larger pubs in the roath area it has ample room for a large football crowd.
Having three pool tables with a jukebox and a large plasma screen T.V. for the sports means there’s always a game on. It sports a good beer garden with bench tables, which is just what you need in summer. The place can get very quiet at times and there are plenty of other venues around.
I’ve found the locals are friendly and you’ll see a lot of students here if only for the pub golf and footie.
The place doesn’t get overly noisy so is a great location to sit and have a chat with a group of mates.

Te first thing you notice about The Roath Park (apart from it being no where near Roath park) is that its chunky hunk of a building somewhat attractive in a sturdy stone block kind of way.
It has a quite a bit of history attached to it and saw army officers staying in the hotel rooms above during the war — which are no longer used.
As with all pubs it has a full range of beers, wines and spirits plus a cracking pool area where friendly rivalry is the order of the day. I played here with a mate. It was winner stay on and we beat 11 other teams in a row. By no way of an excuse by the time we’d got to the 11^th game our optical judgement had been a little hindered by our optical choices at the bar.
It’s mainly frequented by locals and students — and local students.

The Roath Park pub is about half a mile away from Roath Park, so the name is stretching the bounds of credibility somewhat. But this is a pretty old pub, and so may be all of the estate agents on Albany Road have acted as a catalyst for the systematic destruction of common land in order to build one property after another, pushing the park ever further away? The Roath Park was built in 1886, and so a story of this nature could feasibly be true if it weren’t for the fact that common land in the UK is protected by laws that can’t be repealed, besides which, the pub has been around a lot longer than the estate agents… so not a very plausible idea after all!
In its 120 years existence The Roath Park has enjoyed various incarnations and even played an active part in the war. Army officers used to stay in the rooms above the public bars and skittle alley, and had a dedicated social area called the Blue Room upstairs so that they didn’t have to fraternise with the commoners if they didn’t want to.
These days the pub is frequented by the locals and students. The skittle alley has been replaced by a poolroom with three tables and the rest of this cavernous pub is decked out with plasma TV’s for the sport. This would be altogether a tragic twist in its tale if it weren’t for the fact that they still serve Cardiff’s own real ales supplied by Brain’s. Although The Roath Park has witnessed more lucrative times, and has been a more salubrious establishment in its day, all is not lost. It still has a charm about it, and the locals are nice enough.

I’m not sure why this pub is called the Roath Park, since it certainly doesn’t overlook the park and is in fact about a 5 – 10 minute walk away from it! Nevertheless, that’s what it’s called, and you can find it in a large 19^th century building along City Road, on the corner with Kincraig Street.
It’s a warm, traditional style pub that is fairly quiet a lot of the time, and even has a bell to ring to get served if there’s no one about. When the staff are there, though, they’re a friendly bunch.
Behind the main bar and lounge there’s a big back room with a few pool tables, seating and a juke box. There’s also a beer garden out back with benches and tables that’s quite nice in the summer. It’s not a bad pub for a drink or two, but if you’re after something a bit livelier or more studenty head for The George on Mackintosh Place.

I do like a good pub; if you can go in after a long day, sit down in the warm and have a nice slow drink with some friends then it’s a winner for me.
This pub is great for all of those things. It has a really friendly atmosphere and the prices are reasonable. They do serve food (as you’d expect really…) but I’ve never eaten here. Instead, this is normally where we would go for a few drinks for heading on to elsewhere.
It is a little too far from me for me to want to go there just for one drink and come home again but it really is a nice place to go to otherwise.

can’t comment about the rest of the pub, but this place is a must stop for people taking the Heath mile trek from Wetherspoons on Newport Road to the Heath Hotel on Allensbank Road. The side bar is the place to be, it is a classic public bar, seemingly unchanged from the 70s and always warm, often with a huge and friendly dog lying down by the bar. For a good old fashioned local go for it.

The roath park is a quiet pub as in not many visitors, there is a bell you have ring to get served! They have two pool tables in the back room which is quite big with tables & chairs in & also a juke box. The staff are friendly & polite and there is also a beer garden which is nice in the summer

Whenever I go in the Roath Park, it’s always quiet (as in empty). Split into three rooms, there is a lounge most frequented by locals, a side room that’s quite snug and private (you have to ring a bell to be served at the bar!) and the huge backroom containing to pool tables, various seats and tables (some padded benches, some booths and some dining type tables up by the bar) and a juke box that’s a bugger to operate.
The staff are very friendly and if you catch it on a good night, you’ll find some right characters playing pool who will be more than happy to help you with your game.
There’s an outdoor beer garden at the back with around 4 sets of benches.
One thing — the back room with the pool tables is freezing in the winter.