Tucked away on Harvey Street just off Canton’s main shopping drag on Cowbridge Road East, The Insole isn’t flashy; but then that’s hardly what its patrons are looking for. Landlady Diane took it over in March after a period of closure and it continues as an intimate and friendly social spot for its small but loyal band of customers.
Stopping in on a Saturday afternoon I’m greeted not by a blast of Premiership football and an odor of stale Carling, but by Free Willy 3; like Crocodile Dundee they really, really should have stopped at one.
Only marginally less ferocious than a killer whale is Missy: the Insole’s guard dog. With a yelp that would shame a budgie she’s more guinea pig than canine and a massive flirt to boot. It’s clear who wears the trousers around here and they’re definitely pint-sized.
“She’s very spoilt: the lady of the pub I think that dog is,” says bar girl Laura Evans who is holding the fort until Diane returns from a spot of Christmas shopping. “She (Diane) is like a little Mum to me; she’s like a Mum to everyone. Most of the people who come in here are regulars; it’s a homely pub. I would never leave here: I love it too much,” she adds.
A little less homely these days is the boarded-up Maltings around the corner on Cowbridge Road East. The pub was closed last year when the tenant walked away after the latest violent incident in its troubled recent history, and it is now set to be demolished to make way for housing.
Laura says: “It was a really busy pub. They had a lot of the youngsters in there and they took advantage, caused a little bit of trouble and it closed down. The Maltings was just like this place.”
Luckily there aren’t too many pool cues flying around the Insole on a sleepy Saturday afternoon; there is a table, but it’s in the public bar which only usually opens for Friday night’s famously raucous karaoke.
At the end of the lounge bar on his usual perch is regular Colin Mountjoy, 31, who comes in “at least three or four times a week.” While he used to help the previous owner by working behind the bar when he was struggling to make a go of the place, flat-cap sporting Colin prefers a pint of Stella and a stool these days. He says: “My parents were in the pub game for 20 years but even they sold up seven years ago. I wouldn’t take on anything now.”
As pub welcomes go, they don’t get much friendlier than the Insole and it’s well worth straying just a little way from the Canton Mile for a pint of Brains and more Billy the Seal yarns than you can shake a tiny dog at.