Feature

The pub gardens named the best in Wales

11 Aug 2026 3 minute read

Nation.Cymru staff

There are few better places to spend a sunny afternoon than a pub garden, and some Welsh pubs are getting considerably more praise for their outdoor spaces than others.

Whether it’s somewhere for a quick pint after work or a long afternoon with friends, a good garden can easily be the deciding factor when choosing where to go during warmer weather.

With this in mind, whisky cask supplier and independent bottler Spiritfilled has analysed TripAdvisor reviews to reveal the pubs with the most highly praised gardens across Wales and the UK.

The study looked at 552 qualifying pubs across 76 UK cities, ranking them by the number of five-star TripAdvisor reviews that specifically mention the word “garden”.

Taking the Welsh top spot is The Woodman in Swansea, which has received 41 five-star TripAdvisor reviews mentioning its garden. The pub also performs strongly nationally, placing 22nd among the UK’s top 50 pub gardens.

In second place is Tredegar Arms in Newport, with 35 five-star garden mentions, while Cross Foxes Erbistock in Wrexham completes the Welsh top three with 33.

Another Swansea pub, Beaufort Arms, takes fourth place with 21 five-star reviews mentioning its garden.

There is a tie for fifth between two Wrexham pubs. Nags Head and Alyn At Rossett have each received 20 five-star garden mentions. Blaina Wharf in Newport follows with 16 mentions, while Talardy Hotel in St Asaph takes eighth place with 15.

Wrexham makes another appearance in ninth, with The Crown receiving 13 five-star garden mentions, before Pub On The Pond in Swansea completes the Welsh top ten with 12 mentions.

Commenting on the findings, Russell Spratley, co-founder of Spiritfilled, said: “What is interesting about the Welsh ranking is that the strongest pubs are spread across a few different parts of the country rather than all being concentrated in one place. Swansea takes the top spot with The Woodman, but Newport and Wrexham are not far behind.

“Wrexham in particular stands out, with four pubs making the Welsh top 10. That suggests there are quite a few places locally where people are not only using the outdoor space, but enjoying it enough to specifically mention the garden in a five-star review.

“The Woodman also performs well when you look at the UK ranking as a whole, placing 22nd nationally. With more than 1,700 TripAdvisor reviews overall, getting 41 five-star reviews that specifically mention the garden is a fairly strong showing.

“It is also worth remembering that the best pub gardens are not always the biggest or most elaborate ones. Sometimes it is simply having a pleasant space, enough seating and a good atmosphere that makes people want to mention it afterwards. That seems to come through quite clearly in a lot of these reviews.”

Methodology

Spiritfilled analysed pubs across the cities included on the UK Government’s official list of cities.

TripAdvisor pubs in each city were ordered by “Best Rated”. Up to 10 pubs per city were included where at least one five-star review mentioned the word “garden”.

The number of five-star reviews containing “garden” was then recorded for each qualifying pub, with pubs ranked according to the total number of matching reviews.

In total, 552 qualifying pubs across 76 UK cities were included in the analysis. Data was collected as a snapshot of TripAdvisor listings and reviews.

Note: The use of the word “garden” acts as a proxy for a pub having a garden and may occasionally capture reviews where the word is used in another context.

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