Is the Cardiff Student Union’s Taf really the cheapest round in Cathays?

We decided to get the facts straight

1 year ago

Whether you’re planning on going ham before Juice, or having chilled drinks after uni, the pubs in Cathays always pull through with the immaculate vibes needed for the best evenings. In the Taf, there is a mural painted by the SU to claim that The Taf is the cheapest place to drink, but we heard rumours this wasn’t the case, so we decided to get to the bottom of it and see if our beloved SU pub really has the ‘cheapest round around’.

On the walls, the Taf have painted The prices of a number of student favourite pubs in Cathays, listing the prices of The Mackintosh, Gassy’s and The Woodville to support their claims. However, we’ve heard through the grape vine that these prices are now outdated and might no longer be accurate, so we decided that we just must go on a pub crawl around Cathays to put these rumours to rest.

To get the facts right to start, The Taf has written on their wall that a pint of Carling, an alchopop, a pint of apple cider, a tequila shot and a double gin and tonic costs just £16.40, which of course is insanely good value!

The Mackintosh

We began our crawl at The Mackintosh, which is apparently £4.10 more expensive than The Taf. The Mack is a beloved pub to most students residing in Cathays with its buzzing atmosphere providing a great night every night throughout week. They host socials for societies before YOLO, pub quizzes every Monday and have pool tables out back, making it a great place to pre-drink or just socialise!

After a hefty round of drinks, we can confirm that The Taf is definitely still cheaper than The Mack, but by only £3.45, with the round costing £19.85, which still makes it a great alternative and affordable place to drink! Even though The Taf is cheaper, in my humble opinion The Mack pub quiz definitely tops The Taf’s, so it’s for sure worth taking a trip down there if you haven’t been yet.

Gassy’s

Gassy’s is definitely up there as one of my favourite places to drink in Cardiff, with Wing Wednesday, and it’s also a great spot to watch football, a truly top tier establishment.

Our Gassy’s round turned out to be £3.75 more expensive than the Taf’s, which again was considerably less than the £5.90 claim on the Taf’s mural, and if you’re looking for that social pub-buzz, then Gassy’s is for sure worth that extra £3.

The Woodville

The Woodville is definitely a controversial one and I do think the busyness of the night would dictate the quality of it. With its limited seating and indoor space, when people pile in, it’s not always an exciting busy buzz, but rather leads you to spending an extremely long time queueing at the bar.

When we went however, we made our time worth while and ordered some food too and I must say the burrito bowl was out of this world, absolute chef’s kiss. Back onto the drinks pricing though, The Taf did get this pricing correct, with it being £5.10 over the price of a Taf round.

Honorable mentions

I think it would be rude to not give a shoutout to the other pubs of Cathays that didn’t quite make it up on the wall. First of all, the underrated Vulcan.

The Vulcan always has the most impeccable ambience, with live music, darts, a pool table, and the best Halloween decorations I’ve seen so far. Their karaoke nights also can’t be topped. The Vulcan was only £1.15 more expensive than The Taf, beating all three other pubs, so its definitely one to check out if you haven’t already.

The Flora is also a great pub, despite it being slightly out of the way and having marginally more expensive pints. It’s a lovely destination for some chilled drinks with your friends or perhaps even for a date (they have fairy lights, so definitely a romantic vibe.)

Last but not least, it would most definitely be a crime if I failed to mention Misfits, whether it falls under the category of being a pub, bar, club or somewhat in between, Misfits is great if you want a cheeky boogie after having a few, but don’t want a wild night and a long trek home from town.

Conclusion

Whilst The Taf still manages to maintain the title of the cheapest round in Cathays, it does need to update its wall of honour with the correct prices to keep things fair to all. However, The Taf will always have my heart, especially on a Friday night when the 50% off discount is activated and my Monzo card is rinsed.