20 months ago we opened the door to our new bar in Cardiff with a great deal of pride and real optimism for our future as a part of the Cardiff beer scene. At that time our focus was on creating showcase craft beer bars in 3 cities, namely Bristol, Cardiff and London. We had a little 200L brewkit nestled in the back of our Bristol bar and a fledgling cuckoo brewery brand beginning its young life. The time since then has taken us all by surprise and the direction of our small company has grown its own life. Left Handed Giant has gone from what we hoped would be a small passion project behind our bars to being the sole focus and future of what we hope to become. Our recent Crowdfund, bringing over 1500 people into ownership of our company has allowed us to acquire the Compressor Rooms at Finzels Reach and turn our dream of operating a showcase brewpub in Bristol city centre into a reality (you can read more about the project via the link below). With this huge expansion of our Bristol operations comes additional pressure and stresses on our entire team.

We’ve set out from day 1 to be a company that focuses on the quality of our lives and enjoyment of our work first and foremost, always over and above the growth of our company. Our focus has been pulled towards Left Handed Giant as our beers have grown popularity and traction, by extension the time we’ve been able to spend travelling over to Cardiff has been decreased. We have never intended to be a large, stretched team and while we could clearly take additional people on to decrease this pressure our ambition has always been to keep a clear line of site with every person we have within the company. Operating over 2 cities, along with the growth within Bristol we intend to execute over the coming year, felt like too much. 

When we heard of Crafty Devils issues with their potential landlord it felt like a situation that could benefit both small companies. We could step back from Cardiff, while ensuring that our team and our premises was passed on to a company who’s ethos matched our own and who could take the foundation we had laid within 17 Church St and not just match it but advance it. 

We sincerely hope that our input into the Cardiff beer scene will be felt long into the future and that you can all support Craft Devil and Beelzelbub in their new endeavor.

From us at Left Handed Giant and Small Bar, we have loved our time in the city. You have taken us to your hearts, supported us, given us many great nights and treated us like one of your own. We can’t express the thanks we have to you for our time in the city. It’s time now to pass the torch to the team at Craft Devil. We’ll be there on opening night and we look forward to raising a glass to the future of Crafty Devil, Beelzebub and the Cardiff beer scene! 

The future for us? The development of our St Philips Brewery, along with the opening of our new brewpub at Finzels Reach will take the majority of our time in the coming year, but the place that it all began will sit solely at the centre of what we are and who we are. If you miss us, come join us on King St at Small Bar in Bristol. We’ll be there long into the future and I hope we can meet the folks who knew and loved Small Bar Cardiff, share a beer and talk of the times we all enjoyed there.

Finally….there are decisions we make as a management team that we make for what we hope are the best for our company. But there are real humans behind that, passionate people that care for Small Bar and all it stands for. We have ensured that their contracts are secure with Beelzebub and they gladly have them, because they are awesome. We have been privileged to work with some amazing people in Cardiff. Some are coming to Bristol to help with our growth here. Some you will see behind the bar at Beelzebubs. 

I would like to thank the people that have put their souls into what we’ve been. Both those that were there today and those that worked in the bar over the last 20 months.. 

With thanks to an amazing group of people:

Dickie
Simon
Seamus
James
Mia
Reece
Sophie
Tasha
Dewi
(The Original) Chris Martin
Jen
Paul (the greatest chef in the whole damn universe)

Yours, with love and thanks

The Small Bar and LHG Team.