We visited Cardiff’s Ballie Ballerson and here’s what happened

Oh my god you guys – we’ve never been to a bar like this before. It’s like if you took all the best parts of your childhood birthday parties, and combined that with stunning cocktails and an insanely Instagrammable location. We visited Ballie Ballerson to give you guys the lowdown on Cardiff’s wildest new night out, and here’s everything you need to know.

Stunning décor

Marked by the big pink sign on the outside, the building is very easy to navigate. When you walk through the doors and towards the bar, you’re welcomed by a dance floor with a DJ booth. We immediately came across a stage area where live music was playing and a long bar where they were making loads of cool cocktails.

Up the spiral staircase and following the neon sign is the upstairs area, this is where the main event is… the ball pit! It’s located alongside the toilets, a photo booth, and a large seating area where you can eat and chill out before and after going into the ball pit.

The overall vibe of the venue is very colourful, filled with neon signs and colourful lights everywhere, which we thought was super fun and modern; even the smoking area had a big bright sign in it. This was something that stood out against other bars in Cardiff as it’s not something that we’ve really seen before.

The ball pit

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In between food and cocktail tasting, we spent the majority of our night in the ball pit. When you enter you get given a wristband, ours was for full access to the ball pit all night, which was so worth it as we were going in and out for hours. The ball pit was way bigger than expected! Something about it really brought out the inner child within us as we were all jumping around and burying ourselves within it. They were playing classic 2010s music alongside the groovy pastel lighting which really upped the vibe. We could easily have spent our whole night in there, it was so much fun!

Cocktails for days

Our personal fave cocktails were the Capri-Sunha (think an alcoholic Capri-Sun) and the Icelollypalooza, but with a huge range of cocktails and mocktails to choose from, we’re sure you’ll find the one for you. The bartenders are super knowledgeable, so if you’ve got a particular flavour or alcohol in mind, they’ll know exactly what you’ll love. If your budget is tight, don’t worry: Ballie have student deals across the week, as well as Happy Hour every Sunday to Friday.

If you get hungry, you could do a lot worse than grab food at Ballie. We were lucky enough to try a range of their snacks, including the absolutely stunning pizzas. Starting from six quid, and with vegan options available, we’d definitely recommend the pizza as a way to soak up all those cocktails.

Open all hours

Found in the Brewery Quarter, Ballie is open Wednesday to Sunday From 4pm to 1am, excluding Friday and Saturday, when it’s open until 2am. With weekly events on such as HMU Wednesdays where they have discounted drinks and play retro music, it is definitely worth checking out if YOLO is getting a bit much. They are also hosting an event on Halloween, “Disco With the Dead”, and are taking bookings for Christmas too.

Ballie Ballerson is a great addition to Cardiff, bringing so much energy and fun. It’s quickly becoming a popular hotspot with great drink prices and all the best music (not to mention the ball pit). It was such a fun experience, we don’t think we’ve ever laughed so much on a night out!

The staff are so friendly and super helpful with drink recommendations, and any queries you may have. We would definitely recommend it to anyone for all sorts of events; if you want to go for a date, a night with the girls, or even for a work do, it caters for everything.

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