NEWPORT once was awash with pubs, with over 150 lining its streets. Many have gone but some have survived. Here we dip into the archive for a taste of some of those watering holes.

The Royal Oak

Although a pub still stands on this site, it replaced the original boozer which was demolished.

The Royal Oak in Chepstow Road, which dated back to the mid-19th century, was pulled down in 1984 to make way for a Toby Carvery which stands there still.

The King William

The King William pub in Cardiff Road was better known as the King Billy.

The pub had been empty for several years before it was renovated by Newport City Council with money from the Welsh Government’s multi-million pound ‘Vibrant and Viable Places Scheme’ to regenerate ailing areas of the city. 

The Tredegar Arms, Newport

This shot, taken in 1980, shows one of Newport’s most handsome buildings in one of its many incarnations.

Then the Tredegar Arms, it has also housed a Yates Wine Lodge and latterly Delilah’s nightclub.

The Lord Raglan

This stout Victorian pub graced Commercial Street in Newport, and where drinkers would sup now stands a branch of the Halifax and a mobile phone shop.

White Hart

The White Hart in Pill was long a favourite of farmers who came to Newport to sell their stock at the nearby cattle market, the third-largest in Wales.

The cattle market closed its doors for the last time in 2009 and the site now houses an Asda supermarket. The pub is no more and has been converted to offices.

Trout Vaults

A Newport-centre pub that was a little rough around the edges, the Trout Vaults in Market Street was once said to have a Space Invaders machine on its side being used as a table.

While these days that would just be a touch of retro-industrial style, then it really meant ‘edgy’. It later became Can Cans and then the Birdcage.

The Ridgeway

With the look of a 70s Alpine lodge, the Ridgeway is now a popular restaurant.

Langtons

A café bar perched half-way up Charles Street, Langtons was once run by the late-great John Sicolo.

Salutation Inn

Pill had many handsome Victorian hotels, of which some, like the Waterloo, survive today.

The first pub to be built on the road to Pill was the Salutation Inn, or The ‘Sally’, as it was affectionately known. Although built at opposite ends of Pill, both enjoyed were popular with merchant seaman. The place where the Sally once stood is now occupied by Newport’s main police station.