Football pub with a story to tell, and some amazing social nights

So what are you looking for in a pub? Period features? Gastro food? Craft ales? Forget the Lansdowne then - you ain't gonna find any of that here.

But there is a second way when it comes to pubs. How about a pub with a story to tell, and with a family to be part on. And come on, how many pubs do you know that host ferret racing?

Yep, ferret racing, and tonight's mammalian fiesta was by no means a one off. The Lansdowne is legendary for its left-field events, including Dub in the Pub (aka Ska in the Bar), weekly poker, and the host for today's ferreting: Treasure and Tat. T&T easily justifies a visit to the Lansdowne with its colourful assembly of craft and jumble stalls staffed by many of Canton's most colourful characters. Quite how a man in a jester costume came to organise the sending of ferrets down tumble-drier exhaust hoses along the skittle alley remains a charming mystery.

So much for the ferret racing. Should your attention briefly shift from the furry sprinters you'll find a pub much of the old school. The furniture's functional, the interiors dull, and the photos on the walls a testimony to the Lansdowne's Cardiff City association. On match days the pub's full of fans, in fact you'll see Cardiff shirts at the bar most nights. If that's not your thing, well you have been warned.

As for the drink, well it's fairly dull if reasonably priced. Brains is the order of the day, although Leffe on tap marks a hint of a deviation from the all-demolishing brewery's template. There is food, but with the stench of ferrets in the nose it wasn't the night to give it a spin.

So luxury it's not. But Cardiff needs pubs like the Lansdowne, pubs where a community goes to meet, where locals are in touch with their history, and where small fluffy animals can create a right old stink.

(we won by the way - well done Snowball)