The Cross Keys

You'll find The Cross Keys tucked into Market Street, right in the thick of it—the kind of place where locals have been propping up the bar for years and aren't about to stop. It's got that lived-in feel that comes from actually being lived in, with the sort of regulars who'd notice if you started ordering something different. The Cross Keys Hotel does solid traditional pub work: decent cask ales, no pretension, and the sort of straightforward hospitality that makes you want to come back. This is where Newport drinkers actually gather, not where tourists queue for Instagram shots.