The Railway

Arguably Penarths most notorious public house, The Railway’s popularity is exemplified by the vibrant and lively atmosphere it enjoys every Friday and Saturday evening. Situated in a prime location, the pub is home to a large lounge area, a ‘sports bar’ and pleasant ‘beer garden’. Other facilities include a skittle ally, dart board and various fruit machines. The Railway’s facilities and setting are un-​rivalled by any nearby pubs, which makes its popularity easily understandable.
The Railway serves an eclectic mix of ‘pub grub’ up until 9pm daily, with the quality of the food unspectacular, yet satisfactory. With classic dishes like Fish and Chips and All-​day-​breakfasts, the menu offers decent value for money. The bar is extremely well stocked, with a whole host of spirits, lagers and ales readily available. With pleasant and friendly service from the staff also a feature, The Railway really does provide almost everything you could want from a pub.
As one of the most popular hot-​spots in Penarth for teens and young adults, The Railway isn’t really recommendable to families, especially during peak times. However, this pub really is a well-​established cornerstone of the town, and definitely offers a lively atmosphere throughout the week.

This pub is nothing hugely special, but neither is there anything too wrong with it either. The food is cheap and drinks are standard, and there’s often sport watching going on, if that’s your kind of thing — not really mine unfortunately, but I understand that some people ‘get it’. It’s like a disease. I’ve got football. Ew.
My main issue with this place is the amount of noise that it makes well on into the nights. I live very close by, and almost every night there’s a raucous amount of fuss coming from the beer garden. Not just you usual pubby sounds, but the yelling and screaming and drunken lunatics.
Okay, put my fingers in my ears and roll over. I’m over it.
But then I’m woken up at 7am as they put all last night’s bottles in the recycling bin. Very loudly. Smashing glass. So much smashing.
Did I mention the food’s cheap?

You can find the Railway in two minutes down the road from Penarth town centre. An ideal place to stop off for some lunch after some shopping.
The menu is varied, ranging from light bites and salads to huge steaks and burgers.
Prices are very reasonable too, with meals starting at £2.99. My personal favourite is the Cajun Chicken served with corn on the cob, chips, onion rings and garlic bread. I would also recommend the chocolate fudge cake for dessert!

Once famed for always getting busted for underage drinking, the railway is heaving with the young Penarth folk during the summer. Now they’re stringent on ID checks and I can confirm that I was once refused an orange juice because I didn’t have any identification on me (neurotic much?) the place is not so filled with tweenagers more with middle class school leavers drinking pints in the hectic beer garden. By day you’ll find it filled with the local middle aged men watching sport in the ‘lounge’. They serve pub grub, nothing mind blowing but the jacket potato is okay. By night the place is transformed, the old men remain but the young blood flocks in. It’s a bizarre mix of old and new. Also, if you went to school in Penarth it’s likely you won’t be able to go without seeing absolutely everyone you’ve ever known in your entire life.

The railway hotel is a great local pub situated in the heart of Penarth.
A great atmosphere can always be found through out the week, peaking on a saturday night.
Generally the drinks are a average price and the bar service and be slow at times but other than that is a great night out.