Gatekeeper

Oh The Gatekeeper, a sturdy standby for all my adult life. Indeed this was where I had my first legal pint all those years ago (and the bugger didn’t ID me).
Always there, always open, always cheap, The Gatekeeper is your bog standard Wetherspoon’s pub. It’s also probably the easiest place to meet in town if several of you are heading in from different parts of the city, as although it’s a large pub, the three levels makes it easy to decipher where you are and pick a spot to meet.
To be found opposite Clwb Ifor Bach, it’s also handily located so you can fill up on cheap disco grease and keep an eye on the queue for it. It also has the added bonus of having two It-​Boxes, both of which have Monopoly on.
A few things to avoid:
* Trying to enter from the Westgate Street side after 9pm, that’ll be met with a locked door and a chuckle from those inside.
* Coming here on match days in the Millennium Stadium, it’ll be rammed and your beer will be served in a plastic cup (ruddy hate that).
* The downstairs bar on Friday and Saturday nights, stick to the upper one, it’s usually quieter.

Gatekeeper is just plain huge. You will not believe just how huge it is until you go in. The reason I say this is because it is essentially a pub, and as far as pubs go this is just so big. The size of this place probably contributes to the fact that this is a popular haunt for many people on a Friday or Saturday night heading through town, it’s size lets it be a sort of middle ground between your average pub and the larger clubs. If you’re fancying a quieter drink then I’d definitely say avoid this place on a Friday or Saturday night as a consequence of this. Equally, it’s so big that when it’s quiet it feels a bit odd to be here for a quiet drink, so this isn’t its main draw for people. The other place it excels is on match days, obviously in particular when Wales are playing rugby. When it’s a home match there can be as many people in Gatekeeper huddling around the various screens and televisions dotted around the pub as there are in the stadium down the road. Did I mention it was really big?

It’s a Wetherspoon’s so you roughly know what you are going to get; cheap drinks and cheap food. What I like about the Gatekeeper is the number of floors it has. It is a three level pub with plenty of space and great for groups. I always went there for group meet ups for pre drinks before going our for the rest of the night.
I like the cheap food and drinks and the service they give in the gatekeeper. The whole pub has a good atmosphere and I personally choose the top floor because of the sofa’s they have, which makes it seem more relaxed. They food is very tasty and cheap with it’s cheapest being £2.99 for an entire meal.
The Gatekeeper is a great pub the gather socially or even just spend the entire night there. You will be spending so much on drinks because they are cheap and you’ll forget how much you spent. Before you know it, it will be closing time and you have to find somewhere else in Cardiff to spend your money.

Wetherspoon’s of the year 2003! Or something like that…
This ‘Spoons is called the Gatekeeper as it’s on the site of one of the five gateways leading thorugh the walls of Medieval Cardiff. Until about 150 years ago, the Taff flowed along Westgate Street and the quay at that time was Cardiff’s main gateway to the sea.
Enough history though. It’s got two decent sized floors with plenty of tables, chairs and sofas. It’s always pretty busy in here as it’s an ideal spot to grab a couple of cheap drinks before heading onto Clwb Ifor Bach, which is opposite. As with most Wetherspoons, it’s full of over 60s until about 6pm when it starts to fill up with those on nights out.
The food here is one of the best in Cardiff (for a Wetherspoons I mean) and I prefer to eat here rather either than the Prince of Wales or the Central Bar. I pretty much always go for the cheese and bacon burger or the über-​cheap sausage, chips and beans for £3.99.
One word of warning though — as a connoiseur of the Itbox pub quiz machines I have noticed that someone has set the difficulty to «Impossible». Compared to other, easier identical machines (the one in the Pen and Wig is notoriously simple) this one has always got the better of me!

It’s a Wetherspoons! You may already have a mighty good idea about what Wetherspoons serve, cheap drink, cheap food and a quiet atmosphere to chill in. This Wetherspoons is an almighty 3 floors of grandure, with its spiral staircase, you can choose to sit high up with the pigeons or down below with the street rats.
I had a great new dish off of the menu the other day which was a chicken and chorizo flat bread, it was delicious and I highly recommend it!
This pub is ideally located if you are heading out to Clwb Ifor bach or doing a bit of a pub crawl on Womamby street. There is a general mix of people in this establishment, from students through to professionals. The atmosphere is of the quiet variety, but quite relaxed and just the way I like my Wetherspoons to be.

The Gatekeeper is a Whetherspoon’s pub situated directly opposite the Cardiff Arms Park. When the Cardiff Blues used to play their home games at the Arms Park, this venue was the perfect location for a few pre-​match beverages.
Even though the Blues have moved to the Cardiff City Stadium, The Gatekeeper is still a great spot to socialise prior to a big game at the Millenium Stadium, with the aldfsk entrance just down the street.
However, this is also a good location to watch live sport on TV as there is usually quite a boisterous fun atmosphere from the packed pub when there is a big game on.
With three floors, this is the biggest Whetherspoon’s in Cardiff. The service is usually quite good and the food is typical Whetherspoon’s standard; nothing special but you could do far worse.

I’m afraid I’ll never go to the Gatekeeper again after hearing my close friend’s first-​hand account of a beating by one of their resident bouncers.
What started as a «What’s that, mate?» after not hearing what the bouncer mumbled in the toilets near closing time resulted in him throwing my friend into the wall, giving him a split nose and what ended up as a massive bruise on the right side of his face. Prior to that, the bouncer told him he needed to hurry up and leave before following him into the bathroom.
Some would argue that he may have been asking for it, but he’s 5′ 8″ with a slight build and no history of violence. I didn’t know clearing your bladder was an offence punishable by a head cracking. I thought the worst security staff could do to you in a Wetherspoon’s pub is throw you out.
My mate reported the matter to the police, but dropped the charges as he’s moving to London and understandably just wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened.

Gatekeeper is the traditional Wednesday night, pre-​club watering hole of the Metros and Ifor Bach regular and, as such, it holds a special place in my heart. Sure, it’s not the coolest of the Cardiff pubs and, like all Wetherspoons, there’s an element of depression that hits you if you ever become considered one of the regulars (regulars of Wetherspoons are the halfway children of the pub world; the people without a local and without the ability to find a real one), but it does its job and does it well.
You go to Gatekeeper because every one in your group drinks something different and Gatekeeper has a bar that caters to everyone. You go to Gatekeeper to play a couple of drinking games before dancing your hooves off in a dingy bar somewhere down the road. You go to Gatekeeper so you can chat happily with your mates and meet up with several other groups of friends before the night envelopes you AND EVERY CONVERSATION IS AT THIS VOLUME AND NO ONE QUITE HEARS WHAT ANYONE ELSE IS SAYING.
If that’s what you’re looking for, Gatekeeper is the place to go.

I think the amount of 3 star reviews for this pub just about says it all really. This is a fairly nice pub, in terms of Wetherspoons, but apart from that it’s nothing special.
When I was first heading out onto the town, then this was always the first port of call due to its handy location (near enough to all of the alternative clubs) and cheap prices. Back then there did seems to be a influx of 17 years olds in this pub, but fortunately this problem has pretty much been sorted out.
This pub seems to pretty much be made of two large spaces; upstairs and downstairs. With the tables all laid out in dull arrangements and little other effort being made to increase the warmth of the place, you might be better off going elsewhere if you’re after atmosphere. At lease The Prince of Wales (down the road) has the grand staircase and theatre conversion feel.
Everything is in the right place, but there’s little class or heart unfortunately.

This is a cheap ‘n’ cheerful, average Wetherspoons pub with modern décor, reasonably priced beer, and decent enough pub grub.
It’s very popular on match days because it’s so close to the Millennium Stadium, but at other times it can seem rather cavernous because of its huge size and three floors, and the place needs lots of people to make it feel busy. Some shoppers go there at lunchtime, and others nip in after work, many of them taking advantage of the reasonably priced food that’s served.
This place is actually located in an historical part of the city, which has given the pub its name. The Gatekeeper is located very near to the site of one of the five gateways through the medieval city walls. Look out for the blue plaque on the car park wall at the junction of Westgate Street and Quay Street, which shows the location of the gateway to the Town Quay. The river Taff flowed along Westgate Street 150 years ago, and this Town Quay was for a time Cardiff’s main outlet to the sea. You don’t get any sense of this history inside the pub, but it’s still interesting to know!

This is probably my favourite Wetherspoons in the city, the reason being there are usually slightly fewer idiots in there on a weekend and its quiet enough to catch up with your mates, have a few cheaper drinks and then head over to Clwb Ifor.
It probably has the least character in terms of buildings and its very open and spacious. The thing is more people seem to be discovering it all the time and the last time I was there the queueing took so long that I ordered two bottles of wine half an hour later when I got served.
The staff are a pretty miserable bunch too in the nights, clearly students who don’t want to be there but need the money.

A Weatherspoons is a Weatherspoons whichever way you look at it. The Gatekeeper was one of the first places I started drinking and when I was spending my ‘Saturday girl’ wages it was fine because I had no other option. Now I’m a woman of the world it doesn’t really hold the same appeal.
For some reason there seems to be lots of the new generation of goth/​emo/​scenekid/​punk crowd milling about the place but I think that’s probably because of a close proximity to alt club metros and the dirt cheap drinks.
It’s not a classy affair but it’s well located and if forced I can go there for a swift half before moving on to greener pastures and not complain to much, but there’s not a snowballs hell in chance I’d stay until closing time. It’s just not that kind of place.

If I’m going to Clwb Ifor Bach, I will be visiting Weatherspoons Gatekeeper right opposite before hand to warm up.
It’s quite a big place inside with the ground floor having two levels and then a first floor that overlooks the bar below. Like most Weatherspoons the atmosphere is made by who your with, not the bar.
Drinks are cheap and have a a great range of different alcohol on offer. They also do food but have never been here that early to try it so cannot comment.
Staff are generally not great, I’ve spent many a time in here waiting 15 mins plus for inexperienced bar tenders serving the nearest person rather than split up and take a part of the bar each. I’ve been in before and have walked out without ever getting a drink, even though I was standing by the bar. Not on!

Much like any other weatherspoons really. Doesn’t seem to get too busy in here, its spread over 3 different floors. Lots of drinks served– many different ales, lots of food choice, including the new cheap £2.99 meals. They also have certain nights which are certain dishes. Thursdays being curry night, about £6 for a curry + beer/​drink.

The Gatekeeper on Westgate is from the chain of JD Wetherspoons pubs. It is my preferred Wetherspoons in Cardiff for the atmoshere and good layout of the pub. It is a large pub over 3 floors with good facilities lift, family area etc. It serves the usual beers and drinks and also has a good wine selection and a very good varied food menu. They are currently doing some good credit crunch deals with meals on offer at only £2.99. Food is ordered at the bar and brought to your table by the bar tender/​server. The service is always very friendly, they often help my nan take drinks to the table if she arrives first. On busy days expect food to be a while and not always at it’s best. Match days and events at the Millenium stadium mean a very busy pub and often food is not available then.
Overall a really good pub for meeting up with friends or family, cheap food and drinks and a good layout and atmoshere.

This is another good Wetherspoons pub, great atmosphere great location to Millienium Stadium. This pub is always really fun on match days but you can normally find a table on one of the floors. The food is good quality pub food and quick.
Lots of TV screens if you want to watch the sport, staff always helpful. Reasonable prices for the centre of cardiff.