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Golden Cross, Cardiff facts for kids

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Golden Cross
Golden Cross, Cardiff - 4479872 - geograph.org.uk.jpg
The Golden Cross in 2014
General information
Type Public house
Location Cardiff, Wales
Address 283 Hayes Bridge Road, Cardiff, CF10 1GH
Coordinates 51°28′37″N 3°10′28″W / 51.47705°N 3.17444°W / 51.47705; -3.17444
Completed 1903
Designations
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Golden Cross Public House
Designated: 1975-05-19
Reference #: 13647

The Golden Cross is a Grade II listed public house at the junction of Customhouse Street and Hayes Bridge Road in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The current building dates from 1903 and is noted for its distinctive ceramic tiling.

History

A pub has existed on the site since 1849. It was renamed The Golden Cross in 1863. Around 1903/4 it was rebuilt in its current form (the tiles in the bar are dated 1903).

During the Second World War the fascist leader Oswald Mosley attempted to hold a meeting at the pub but violent opposition forced him to return to London.

The pub was threatened with demolition in 1979 but reprieved after a local newspaper campaign. It had been given listed status in 1975.

Architecture

Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (4)
Tiled panel showing Cardiff's Old Town Hall and the statue of Lord Bute

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 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. 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)

    A Brains Brewery logo in stained glass

  • Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (8)

    The distinctive tiled bar

  • Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (7)

    A ceramic tile display of Cardiff Castle

  • Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (5)

    The snooker room

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