St Fagans National Museum of History opens The Vulcan Hotel

The Vulcan Hotel opened to visitors at St Fagans National Museum of History on 11 May 2024. The long-awaited pub welcomed its first customers in over a decade

The Vulcan Hotel was built on Adam Street in Cardiff in 1853 to serve the mainly Irish community of what was then called Newtown. During its long history, it saw major changes as Cardiff grew to become an industrial powerhouse and then the nation’s capital, finally closing its doors for the last time in 2012.

Following a campaign to save it from demolition, the owners of The Vulcan Hotel formally offered the building to Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales in 2012. Amgueddfa Cymru’s historic building team then dismantled the famous Cardiff landmark brick by brick before moving it to St Fagans.

The Vulcan Hotel is displayed as it was in 1915, an important year for the pub. At this time, it had just undergone a major refurbishment that saw the distinctive green and brown tiles added to the frontage, as well as a redesign of its interior.

The Vulcan is serving exclusive beer brewed by Glamorgan Brewing Co. Visitors can now pre-book a table in the pub. They can also pre-order a beer flight containing a third pint of three beers, including a Vulcan Pale and Vulcan Ale, developed by Glamorgan Brewing Co. in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru.

The Vulcan is the latest addition to over forty historic buildings re-erected at St Fagans National Museum of History. The 100-acre site features buildings from all over Wales which showcase how people have lived, worked and spent their leisure time through the ages. St Fagans was awarded Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2019 and was voted best museum by Which? members in 2023.