Pub moved brick-by-brick 10 miles down road after celebrities rally to save it
A historic pub is set to reopen after being rebuilt brick-by-brick 10 miles down the road.
The popular Vulcan pub was built in the 1830s and served generations of dockers and steelworkers in Cardiff before it closed down 10 years ago. Stars including Notting Hill actor Rhys Ifans and Manic Street Preachers singer James Dean Bradfield backed calls for the pub to be saved.
Brains brewery stepped in and agreed to donate it to St Fagans National Museum of History. Now it is in the final stages of reopening as a fully working pub – even featuring the urinals, which date back to a renovation in 1915. Dafydd Wiliam, principal curator of historic buildings at St Fagans, said: “Pubs act as centres of community life. We’ve always wanted a pub at the museum.
“We were fortunate enough to interview a woman who was born in The Vulcan in 1915. She told us what the building looked like when she was a child, what kind of customers used it.” Mr Wiliam added: “Cardiff was a hugely successful coal port. In 1914, it exported the most coal ever; about 20million tonnes.”
The pub's interiors and facade were taken apart by dedicated museum workers and placed in storage before being piecing it back together. A few exterior tiles were too damaged to salvage by chance the original Shropshire-based manufacturer is still in business and still has the wooden moulds that createed the original tiles.
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Mr Wiliam said: "We commissioned a whole new set. We were taking down a partition wall and behind the plasterboard was the original wallpaper. It was thick-grained and covered in a layer of nicotine. The original gents urinals from 1915 has also survived. They are now being restored so they can go back in, ready to carry out their duty."
Staff are being recruited to pull pints at the 107-year-old Vulcan Hotel (WALES NEWS SERVICE)
The gents urinals from 1915 have survived the move (WALES NEWS SERVICE)The building is set to reopen this spring and staff are in the process of being hired to work in the pub. An advert for a 20-hour-a-week bartender role will see the successful candidate prepare, produce as well as serve a range of food and drinks.
While other requirements include not only handling cash and tills but also giving any visitors information about the Vulcan in addition to the wider museum site. Experience of working in a pub or bar is required and the ideal candidate will be able to speak Welsh as well as English.
During the pub's long history, it saw major changes in the city - including the demolition of what was then called Newtown in 1970 and the growth of Cardiff into an industrial powerhouse and eventually becoming the Welsh capital. In 2009 around 5,000 people signed a petition to keep open the pub but it finally closed its doors in 2012.
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