Hundreds of thousands of fans will descend on the city centre over the course of the tournament
THE SIX Nations is the most exciting time of the year for rugby fans.
The streets are packed, the gates are open, and anticipation builds towards what will be a crucial campaign for Warren Gatland and his men.
And, most importantly to some fans, the drinks will be flowing, with one beer in particular proving to be popular with punters.
According to several businesses, Guinness has become the nation’s drink of choice over the past year, with pubs scrambling to order enough of the stout to keep customers happy
One pub keeping stocked up is The Head of Steam on Church Street, where managers has been ordering four times the regular amount of Guinness.
“Guinness is coming in [kegs] of eight and ten, instead of the usual twos and threes,” said Jowad Gleeson, 31, deputy manager of The Head of Steam on Church Street.
It comes after the drink saw a spike in popularity among students and young people, after the viral success of the ‘Splitting the G’ social media trend.
The trend sees Guinness drinkers attempt to take a big enough first sip so that the head of the pint splits the G on the word Guinness on the glass.
The success of the trend has seen demand for the Irish stout skyrocket, leading to shortages and restrictions on its sale in the past few months.
It’s not just The Head of Steam that’s expecting Guinness to be the best seller this season. Temple Bar, an Irish pub around the corner from Cardiff Castle, is making sure that they don’t run dry this season.
“You should see the stock of Guinness we’ve got,” said Ross Allen, 32, bar supervisor at Temple Bar.
“On a regular weekday, we go through about 10 to 12 kegs of Guinness, and that’s just on a normal day.
“We did have the Guinness shortage which caused us a lot of problems, but now we’ve got lots of extra stock in. I can barely move for Guinness,” Mr Allen said.
Another pub gearing up for a big campaign is the Owain Glyndwr, a hotspot for Welsh fans on match day.
“You’ve got to come in feeling positive, there’s no point coming in with a bad attitude. We know it’s going to be busy, so we’ve just got to get on with it,” said Lizzie Chatfield, 25, who works at the Owain Glyndwr.
While the Owain Glyndwr is also stocking up on Guinness, Susie Newton, 50, who also works at the Owain Glyndwr, revealed the drinking habits of the other countries taking part in the Six Nations.
“The French, they like to drink Welsh beer. Ireland will always drink the Jameson instead of Guinness, and the Italians will normally drink coffee instead of alcohol.”
The sight of bars and pubs packed to the rafters is a common sight on a Six Nations weekend, as Cardiff Council estimates that anywhere between 135,000 and 150,000 people visit Cardiff city centre on match days.
While the Six Nations brings in big business for the city’s nightlife, it can also bring an element of antisocial behaviour, some pub staff say.
“We don’t allow people in if there’s multiple team shirts on, to mitigate any issues between teams and fights, which does happen quite a lot,” added Mr Allen.
“Last Six Nations we had a guy at the bar throw a punch at somebody for no reason.
“He ended up smacking a second row who plays professional rugby, so you can imagine what a rugby player did in response to that.”
But some staff say otherwise. “Most Six Nations fans are pretty mellow. People eat with different nationalities, teams playing each other will all sit round having beers together,” said Mr Gleeson from The Head of Steam.
Wales’s Six Nations campaign kicks off on January 31 against France, before playing their first home against Ireland on February 22.
