The Vulcan Hotel first registered as an ‘ale house’ in Cardiff's Newtown area way back in 1853. For more than 170 years it served the city’s dockers, railway workers and rugby stars, plus members of the All Blacks. One regular, Manic Street Preachers singer James Dean Bradfield, hailed it as ‘the perfect example of an old-fashioned Welsh pub – beautifully basic’.
Despite such praise – and a community campaign to save it – the beloved boozer served its last pint and was dismantled in 2012. But there’s a silver lining — the Vulcan’s building was sold National Museums Wales and has now finally been brought back to life.
Twelve years on, the pub has been meticulously reconstructed to look as it did in 1915. From the original bricks and like-for-like replica of the tiled frontage to sawdust spread across the floor and its bright orange urinals, no detail has been overlooked. The only difference is that it’s got a new home on the grounds of Cardiff’s St Fagans National Museum.
The Vulcan officially reopened as a working pub on May 11, joining St Fagans’ collection of more than 40 historic Welsh buildings.
Dafydd Wiliam, principal curator historic buildings at St Fagans, told The Guardian: ‘It’s a legendary Cardiff pub and represents all the pubs that we’ve lost not just in Cardiff but around Britain. It’s a terrible shame because they’re really valuable community spaces.’
Here are some photos of the Vulcan’s new (old) look:
You can find out more about visiting The Vulcan on the St Fagans Museum website here.
Great British pubs
If you’re after more traditional boozers, or want to branch out with something a bit more wacky or fancy, we’ve covered it all on Time Out’s list of the best pubs in the UK.
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