The Aneurin Bevan

Caerphilly Road, Birchgrove [map]


Here's an idea that seems not so much too good to be true as too true to be good: a branch of Wetherspoon marooned on the Caerphilly Road roundabout at the north end of the Gabalfa flyover that's only accessible by a subway.

It sounds like some sort of Ballardian hellscape come to life - albeit one in which you can purchase a beer and burger for £4.99.


There is some irony in naming an outpost of a chain of pubs known for shifting cheap booze by the gallon after the founder of the NHS.


The main bar area. The usual high tables, fruit machine, brown carpet and, at the far end, a large telly spewing out the BBC News Channel.


Through a door and there's this funny little side room. Not many takers, to be honest.


Into the main space (which, oddly, has no bar of its own), where one couple has clearly decided to make an afternoon of watching live coverage of John Prescott giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry. Well, it gets you out the house, doesn't it?


But if Leveson isn't quite for you, there's always the opportunity to catch up with a spot of Samuel Pepys instead.

"I was in mighty pain all night long of the winde griping of my belly and making of me shit often and vomit too, which is a thing not usual with me," he wrote in July 1666. "But this I impute to the milke that I drank after so much beer."

We know the feeling.