Pubs are a home from home. The places where we have experienced many a good night with friends.......as well as being responsible for a few sore heads in the following morning.
Sadly, there's been a few watering-holes in Rhondda Cynon Taf that have had time called on them and ended up shutting. But while those boozers may have bitten the dust, their memory still lives on.
We've cast our minds back over some of our favourite drinking establishments in the area. Of course, this is just a small selection of the pubs and clubs that have closed in the Rhonnda Cynon Taf area. If you remember some others, please let us know in the comments below as we love hearing your stories and memories of the good times you've had in your locals).
Read More: Inside the old Cardiff pubs where we used to hang out with our mates back in the day
So without further ado, hold your glasses high as we toast the pubs we miss the most.
The Pentre Inn
The Pentre Inn, or depending on your age, Pentre Hotel, was the place to go and be seen if you were a teenager in the late '80s and early '90s.
The pub had the obligatory sticky floor, no doubt thanks to many a pint/drink being spilled on it, due to it being completely rammed in there with young people - which meant that getting back to your friends with a banging round full of pints of snakebite was a challenge.
The music was of its time and full of the latest pop and alternative tunes that got many people up dancing - that is if you could find the actual dancefloor.
The place closed in the late '90s/early '00s and was boarded up for many years. Since then it has been demolished and is now nothing but a blank open space.
Tonypandy Naval Club
The famous - although some might say infamous - Naval Club, in Tonypandy Square, was the place to go back to in the '80s and early '90s if you were a fan of loud screaming guitars and thundering drums. The only place to be for any rock fan on a Saturday night was the Naval. And if you weren’t queuing up by seven, you weren’t getting in.
The club has many groups on various social media platforms, with people sharing tales of their good times and memories of the club that, for many, was the centre of rock music in the valleys.
Many of the big British rock bands of the era played at the venue with the likes of XTC, the UK Subs, After The Fire, the Tom Robinson Band, as well as heavy metal heroes Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Sledgehammer doing shows there at the start of their careers.
Unfortunately, the club closed in the mid '90s and, in 2005, the venue suffered a fire so severe that it sadly had to be demolished.
The Rhondda Hotel
The Rhondda Hotel on the hill leading up to Cymmer in Porth was one of the finest music venues in Wales.
From 2003 until June this year, The Rhondda Hotel was the place to go for top-notch musical entertainment and a pub that, as soon as you walked through the doors, felt like home.
The venue played host to many shows over the years with the likes of Ricky Warwick and The Wonder Stuff's frontman Miles Hunt taking to the stage. However, the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll on the place, from which it never recovered.
The Griffin Inn
Another landmark Pentre public house was The Griffin Inn, in Carne Street. Like many pubs of its day it has now sadly been demolished and turned into flats.
The fate of the watering hole was up in the air for a few years before it was knocked down around 2018, despite calls for the former pub to be turned into a community hub.
The Griffin was your classic valleys boozer with a live artist on at the weekends to entertain those in attendance. A much-missed and beloved pub.
The New Gordon's Hotel
This pub in Gelli Road has seen its fair share of owners and, more recently, was purchased with the former Gordon Hotel set to be transformed into self-contained flats.
The pub itself closed in the noughties and has been empty ever since. When it was open, it was a fun place to go and, with many workmen's clubs on the same stretch of road, and a great place to pop in while on a pub crawl.
The Clarence Hotel & The White Hart Hotel/Flicks/Silks/Soul Suite
What was left of the old Clarence Hotel was recently demolished amid many changes in the name of the drinking establishment, such as Angharad's and Bar Inc.
Just across the road was the White Hart Hotel, which younger readers may also know as Flicks, Silks, and, most recently, The Soul Suite. Alas, the sticky floors seem to be a recurring memory of the place but, for most people, the friends, music and good times will live on in our memories forever.
Tom's
Now Tom's Music Venue was a more recent pub, but don't let that fool you into thinking that it would have less of an impact on its local surroundings.
Tom's was named after the local legend Sir Tom Jones as the venue was where a young Jones was paid £1 to stand in for a cancelled band in 1957 at a time when he was too young to drink beer. He did his turn, got the crowd singing, and never looked back.
Because of its association with The Voice, it was not unusual for Japanese tourists to make pilgrimages there and burst into tears when they saw the stage where Tom once stood.
Sadly, the venue closed in 2008 but was a big part of student life for those who were lucky to have seen some great shows there during its time.
The Black Crown/Black Rock/Porth Hotel
Another Porth pub that used to be a great place to enjoy a tipple or two. Here we have Porth Hotel, which has gone under many names from The Black Crown to The Black Rock over the years.
The pub, and what is left of it, was in a great place with it being right in the middle of the town and also only a short distance from the train station as well.
In the '80s and '90s, the place would be full of wonderful people all out with one thing on their mind - to have a great time.
Red Cow
The Red Cow will always have a place in the history books as the place where the Treorchy Male Voice choir first sang in 1883. The pub itself was a quiet place, especially in the late '90s, but if you wanted a chat and a drink with friends this was the place to go.
The beer was good and you knew that there wouldn't be any problems with the other drinkers in the pub. Plans went through in 2014 to turn the then-closed venue into low-cost flats, and despite some local opposition, the council approved the proposals.
The Boot Hotel, Aberdare
Many people will know of The Boot Hotel due to the pub's landlord hiding the dead body of his drinking partner upstairs for four days so that he wouldn’t miss out on busy weekend trade. Yes, this is what happened back in 2012, since then the pub has been closed on and off and has now been refurbished and changed into flats.
Read Next:
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Inside the abandoned tunnel between two villages that's been forgotten for decades
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