The Queens Vaults

Swang in here to watch the Chelsea — Everton FA Cup while spending the weekend in Cardiff. I was throughly impressed with the televisions, billiards tables, beer selection, etc.
Cool spot, right in the shadow of Millennium Stadium.

I love The Queen’s Vaults purely because it is the reason I got into University. This may seem unrelated but it’s true. The guy doing my interview found out I was from Cardiff and enquired whether I knew of The Queen’s Vaults, when I told him I had then he was pretty much sold from then on. It was his favourite pub back when he used to live in Cardiff many moons ago, and the pub still stands to this day as an old landmark amongst a lot of new places (most obviously, The Millennium Stadium across the road).
It’s a great pub before, during, and after a Welsh rugby match is being played in the stadium across the road, and the drink prices aren’t unreasonable. I can understand some people feeling uncomfortable at other times when the pub is catering for its regulars, but in general I’ve found it to be a welcoming, old place.

Within just yards of arguably the city’s most famous landmark, The Queens Vault proves a popular pub when events take place at the Millennium Stadium. During the week, when the pub isn’t bustling full of Welsh rugby fans, the pub’s dated and fairly tatty building is matched by its rather inhospitable and uncharming character. Furthermore, the atmosphere inside isn’t particularly inviting, with a rather odd demographic choosing to frequent this pub. It’s by no means sinister, although it lacks the warmth and friendliness held by plenty of other pubs in this area.
The food is unspectacular, with a pub of this ilk less than likely to produce high quality grub. Having said that, it’s perfectly edible and fills a hole. I wouldn’t really recommend coming here, but it’s not to be avoided like the plague. A fairly uninspiring venue, it could definitely do with a re-​furbishment.

Ha… i first went to the Queens Vault for an illicit under age pint at the tender age of fifteen! Yikes!
So pleased to even get let in on an international day let alone get served i had quickly rang my understanding mother to spread the joy!
‘Get out!’ she had screamed down the receiver; ‘Its too rough for you!’ Little did mother dearest know that i was slowly becoming the spit and sawdust drinker that i am today. But, let me make something quite clear, the Queens Vault is not rough in the slightest, well, no rougher than anywhere else in the city centre.
Its usually full to the brim and nowadays i know for a fact there are no under age cutie pies in there flirting and spilling their cider and black.
No, the place has a super wide range of clientèle, ranging from the young to the pensioners, it gives the place good vibes and certainly a good mix.
I’ve never eaten here due to the fact i’m a drinker not a food’er, a lover not a fighter and a general drunken bum usually but i’ll be honest it is on my to do list.
Anyway before boring you half to death, i’d like to dedicate this review to my lovely mother, who really hasn’t got a clue!

To put it simply The Queen’s Vaults is a weird pub filled with weird people. There’s a weird vibe to the place and they have weird cask beers on offer. There are three pool tables, which is weird to find in the city centre and one of the tables has red baize instead of green baize, which is weird, but not as weird as it once was. The jukebox is filled with classic rock slash dad rock (delete depending on your point of view) which is not really that weird.
The Queen’s Vaults is a cheap place for booze and grub and it’s one of the best places in the city centre to watch sport in, rivalled only I think by The Old Arcade. The atmosphere in here for a Wales rugby match is awesome. Any other time you care to pop in though the place can seems a bit umm… what’s the word? Oh yeah, weird.

While there’s nothing generally wrong with this Westgate Street everyman pub, drink there regularly enough and you will start to notice a few troubling things. The clientele aren’t rough in the worst sense, but the occasional hardened drinker might have meeker punters feeling a touch intimidated. It’s the real rare cases that are the biggest worry, however: take this past example, when one disreputable diner finished his meal then proceeded to slide a steak knife into his newspaper before leaving, concealed weapon under his arm inside a copy of The Sun. Scary. The football is often on with volume turned up higher than the average gig too (loud is good; painful, well, isn’t). And music fans take over on the sporadic occasions when a big concert takes place at the nearby Millennium Stadium. Fine, but when Oasis came through a few years back The Queens Vaults cleared all their furniture out and put ‘Definitely Maybe’ on repeat, whacked up to maximum. And even that would have been understandable if they hadn’t been showing the day’s live Premier League match with the volume off entirely. It’s a dead cert to catch the Welsh rugby on match days anyway, albeit packed to the rafters.

I’ve only been here a handful of times and it always seems to end up on a big game day. It’s seconds away from the millennium stadium so you can guarantee a large crowd and when Wales are playing there’s a huge atmosphere. A real buzz happening. It seems like a typical pub to me and the music is pretty good in there too. It’s not really a rock pub but it gives me that impression at times although you could meet any sort of person in here really, I’ve never seen any clicky-​ness on the few times I have been there so I would recommend this as a great place to go and join in the cheering on a match day. The service at the bar is fairly efficient and the staff appear to be on the ball with regards to who is who and who is next so I’ve never had to wait too long before being served

Went to the Queen’s Vaults last night to meet my brother and his friend for a drink. Although the food was fine and the atmosphere ok I didn’t have the inclination to visit again. I can see that the place has had a bit of a make over and they’re pushing the food to get a more varied crowd in there. They sell 16oz steaks so for the guys I was with that’s heaven on a plate. I had a BBQ burger with chips which was fine. There seemed to be quite a few veggie dishes too which is always a good sign.
But for some reason in my brain the Queen’s Vaults is always a pub I avoid. Used to be quite rough so that’s probably what it is. It’s quite cavernous inside with lots of TV screens and 3 pool tables so the pub has a bit of a disjointed feel about it. The intimacy of the dining area is fine but for me there seemed to be no-​go areas by the busy pool tables and the area by the bar where i didn’t feel welcome.

I visit The Queen’s Vaults on a regular basis because of the 3 pool tables .The jukebox also tends to be playing rock/​metal music too. There’s always a wide range of people here. Whereas other bars in Cardiff seem to be predominantly full of either younger or older folk, this bar always seems to have about a 50:50 ratio of each.
The food here is excellent, and we were first enticed by the 32oz. mixed grill for £9.99 deal. That’s a rump steak, a gammon steak, 2 pork chops, 2 Lincolnshire sausages, some lamb and a chicken breast. Oh and a generous helping of peas and chips too. It was a challenge to say the least and I had to limp home as the sheer amount of meat I had consumed was impairing my mobility. It was really nice though and you can’t argue with the price for the amount of food you get for that. They have a wide ranging, well priced menu so next time I’ll go for something a little more manageable.
There’s plenty of well priced drinks too and they stock some drinks which aren’t available everywhere in Cardiff such as Desperado’s, Jagermeister and Jura. I don’t tend to go out on match days purely because everywhere is packed. Being situated only across the road from gate 3 of the stadium, you can imagine how busy it gets here too!
There’s a good atmosphere in this bar when it’s lively and we have met plenty of great characters here. To be honest it’s somewhere we mainly go for more of a quiet pint and a game of pool kind of night but on the occasions we have stayed a little longer The Queen’s Vaults hasn’t disappointed one bit.

The Queens Vaults is a curious place. It’s a great local pub that could possess a whole lot more charm if they’d left it how it used to be. Instead, they’ve set it up to serve food by clumping all of the tables together at the front of the building on a raised platform, making the rest of the place seem insufficiently furnished… it doesn’t seem right somehow, but I’m not entirely sure why it doesn’t work for me. It’s obvious why they have laid it out in this way. At the front of the building there’s a triple door that can be opened up, joining the eating area pretty effectively with the pavement seating section. Under normal circumstances I’d appreciate this. But not here! I think it’s perhaps because the furnishings are a little tacky, and because the food, whilst being quite edible, is nothing to write home about. It’s cheap and cheerful… the usual low-​end pub grub, with everything served with chips. I guess I feel that more could be made of the place. Decked out with solid wood furniture, and treated with a little more care, this grand old building could be a whole lot more welcoming, and would make me want to stay longer than I normally do.
As they serve my favourite pint, (Old Speckled Hen), and have a couple of pool tables, I tend to visit for as long as it takes to drink a couple of pints and play a game or so of pool.
It has a core regular crowd who are really friendly, and infrequent visitors like me probably make up about 50% of their trade. The staff are great. I really like this pub, but I want to like it more!

This is my favourite place in town to go and watch international matches, especially when Waled are playing over the road in the stadium. Its always crammed full of characters and you hear the cheers over the road before it happens on the tv.
Yes there was a bit of stickness around, the floor especially had my flip flop stuck to it. Still I have a fantastic time when I go to watch the games there, and the staff seem to enjoy it too.

Queens Vault is a bit of a weird one. It feels like a warehouse almost in it’s décor and layout. A lack of personality if ever such a thing can have one.
My best friend’s parents took us for a drink there and erm we had a couple of drinks and then left, nothing exciting happened to say the least.
Drinks were reasonable in price and to be honest the place comes alive on match days. The atmosphere is brilliant at that time and is situated right opposite both stadiums. Defiantly a match day place, defiantly not a hang out with your friends any other time place…

If there was an award for the stickiest tables in Cardiff it would go to the Vaults. This is not my favourite pub if I’m honest but find myself dragged back there kicking and screaming by friends who swear by it.
The drinks are reasonable, the setting is typically ‘pub’ ish but there isn’t a great deal of character in my opinion. Mostly filled with young punks and middle aged men there isn’t really a huge draw for a girl like me. One of the biggest disappointments is the lack of outdoor space so during the summer you find yourself ousted on to the busy pavement if you want to nip out or a crafty ciggie, so not chic. The only saving grace is probably the jukebox rammed full of terrible yet brilliant ‘dad rock’ hits. The final countdown anyone?

This pub is fairly centrally located and being in close proximity to the stadium is very popular on match days when its a great place to get a drink before the game. (they even have an extra bottle bar they open to meet the demand) Any other time the pub is a bustling lively place to get a drink — I think its not too expensive either compared to some of the St Marys Street pubs and they do a good trade in lunches (typical bar food with 2 for £x offers) there is also pool tables and large screens showing sky sports, popular with a wide range of customers, in the summer people sit outside watching the world go by with a pint.