The Golden Cross is a Grade II listed

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

at the junction of Customhouse Street and Hayes Bridge Road in the centre of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The current building dates from 1903 and is noted for its distinctive ceramic tiling.

History

A pub has existed on the site since 1849, originally named the Shields and Newcastle Tavern. It was renamed the Castle Inn in 1855 and assumed its present name in 1863. The Cardiff historian Brian Lee has said the Golden Cross "developed a reputation as the smartest brothel in town" in the 19th century. Around 1903/4 it was rebuilt in its current form for

Brains Brewery Brains (S. A. Brain & Company Ltd.) is a regional brewery based in Cardiff, Wales. It was founded in 1882 by Samuel Arthur Brain. The company controls more than 250 pubs in South Wales (particularly in Cardiff), Mid Wales and the West Country. ...

. The Golden Cross is alleged to be the site of a fight involving a young

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the onl ...

, who was stationed in Wales during his time in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Before the war, the fascist leader

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

attempted to hold a meeting at the pub but violent opposition forced him to return to London. The pub was given listed status by Cadw in May 1975, but despite this it was threatened with demolition in 1979 as part of a road-widening scheme. However it was reprieved after a campaign led by the ''

South Wales Echo The ''South Wales Echo'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area. It has a circulation of 7,573. Background The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, ...

''. In 2010 it was listed by

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is ...

as one of their 10 most unspoilt pubs by the CAMRA Pub Heritage Group and is listed on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. The Golden Cross has become a popular gay friendly pub, with regular drag acts and entertainment. It was voted in 2004 as the best gay pub in the UK. The pub remains a

tied house In the United Kingdom, a tied house is a public house required to buy at least some of its beer from a particular brewery or pub company. That is in contrast to a free house, which is able to choose the beers it stocks freely. A report for th ...

of the Brains Brewery.

Architecture

CAMRA's Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors describes the Golden Cross as "the most spectacularly decorated of any in Wales". The bar tiles, featuring distinctive corner grotesques, were designed by

Craven Dunnill Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. (formerly Hargreaves & Craven, then Hargreaves, Craven Dunnill & Co.) was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powell Dunnill (1821–95), at Jackfield, Shropshire, England. The firm was to become on ...

of Shropshire. The interior has several decorative pictorial panels of tiles that depict Cardiff Castle, Brains Brewery in 1890, and Cardiff's Old Town hall with a statue of Lord Bute from St Mary's Street in 1863. The Golden Cross has one of fourteen remaining ceramic bar counters in the United Kingdom. The other ceramic counter in Wales is located at the in Waterloo Hotel in the Newport district of

Pillgwenlly Pillgwenlly ( cy, Pilgwenlli), usually known as Pill, is a community (civil parish) and coterminous electoral district (ward) in the city of Newport, South Wales. Etymology The name is an elision of " Pîl Gwynllyw" (or "Gwynllyw's Pîl" in ...

. Dunnill replicated the design with grotesques at the Mountain Daisy pub in Sunderland, and the Gunmakers Arms Birmingham. An almost identical tiled frieze design is at the White Swan pub in Birmingham.

Interior Gallery

Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (2).jpg, A

logo in stained glass Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (8).jpg, The distinctive tiled bar File:Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (7).jpg, A ceramic tile display of Cardiff Castle File:Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (5).jpg, The snooker room

References

External links

* {{National Inventory Pubs 1903 in Wales Castle, Cardiff Commercial buildings completed in 1903 Grade II listed buildings in Cardiff Grade II listed pubs in Wales LGBT pubs in the United Kingdom National Inventory Pubs Pubs in Cardiff