My couple of days away in North Wales ended with a journey back along the coast making brief pitstops at Bangor and Conwy.
I can't believe it is 14 years since I was last in Bangor and 16 years since I graduated from university there. I loved my time living between the sea and the mountains and miss waking up to the sound of seagulls and the smell of the salty sea air. I am disappointed with myself for not returning for so long.
This time it really was a flying visit and motivated mainly by nostalgia, so our walk round the town took me past my old haunts, with a few sneaky, stalker-style photos taken of my student houses.
First stop was at my student residence, Y Garth.
I spent my first year of university living here with an assortment of colourful characters. We were not overly popular with Vera, our kindly accommodation officer. Having all our utility bills included within our monthly rent, we were more than happy to have the heating and hot water on 24 hours a day. When we had run up quite a large bill, a lock was put on the box covering the heating controls- this didn't last for long and we were soon back to having it on constantly. Vera also accused us of removing both the stair carpet and the stained glass from the window by our front door, and of causing damage to the shed roof by sunbathing on it! Why would we? We were innocent of all these crimes. However, we were guilty of breaking my bedroom door (my room-mate and I managed to lock ourselves out one night after a little too much to drink and one of our friendly housemates helped us to get back in again!). Vera never discovered this as we very cunningly mended the front of the door and plastered over the back with posters; I am sure we were cursed once it was discovered. I also seem to recollect that Vera never noticed on any of her visits the collection of road signs and traffic cones we had adorning our entrance area!
There were twelve of us living at Y Garth and, although I am still in touch with a couple, I often wonder what happened to the rest. Where is Mark, the Yorkshire lad who used to walk out of the room covering his eyes whenever a Tampax advert came on the television? And what about David who I can still see now standing on a chair in the middle of the lounge singing and dancing to Abba's 'Dancing Queen' enrobed in the velvet curtains from his bedroom window! Also, Magnus, the quiet Swede who, when living with us the following year went a little strange after staying up all night every night playing computer games.
I have hugely fond memories of living at Y Garth and standing outside after so many years did seem very strange; being a guest house now it was a little bit tempting to go in for a quick nose, but I think I would rather remember it in its true squalor of 1993!
Onwards from Y Garth, and we walked down towards Bangor Pier. This took us past one of my old haunts, the Tap and Spile pub. When we first arrived in Bangor, this pub was called the Garth Hotel and all our post used to get mistakenly delivered there which meant that each day one of us had to walk down to collect it. Not long after it was refurbished and became the Tap and Spile, and it is still there now, though looking a little run-down. I remember the landlord chatting to us one night and telling us about the number of glasses that got stolen each week; how we managed to keep our faces straight knowing that we had a nice cupboard of Tap and Spile glasses at our house I do not know!
Very often when we left the pub we used to walk across the road down to the edge of the Straits. On one occasion some of the lads thought it would be clever, as the tide was out, to try to wade across to some moored boats. Probably not one of the most sensible things to do when you've had a couple to drink. I can't remember how far they got but at least they came back alive.
Walking along Bangor Pier, I was reminded of just how windy it always is! Even on the sunniest days with very little breeze, it is always blowing a gale by the time you are half way down the pier. This time the weather was just about holding up in Bangor, but looking back inland towards the mountains, there were storm clouds galore. The views across the Straits to Anglesey were as beautiful as ever and despite the cloud coverage we had views out to Llandudno.
Back on our whistle stop tour and it was a wander towards the bottom end of the town and my student house for my second and third years, 19 Friars Road.
I moved here with some friends from Y Garth and shared with a couple of Goths who were already living there. It was great living at Friars Road. It was small, with a dingy lounge (our sofa, which was probably about seventh-hand, was kindly collected for us by a bus-dwelling hippy who travelled with it protruding quite some distance out of the back of his uninsured tiny car, affectionately called the Rollerskate), had little downstairs ventilation and was constantly filled with smoke of a suspicious kind, but it was home for two years. It was also home to two rats, a tarantula, a sherry-drinking guinea pig, a hamster and a tank of crickets (which periodically escaped and could be heard chirruping annoyingly around the house). I think we also had a mouse or two but that wasn't intentional.
Friars Road had everything a student might require right on the doorstep. A pub, a takeaway, an off-licence and Kwik Save (which always had a plentiful stock of 97p-a-bottle Chateau Manville for all your pre-night out drinking needs). I was glad to see that these were all still present, with the exception of Kwik Save, which now seems to have turned into a children's indoor play area- maybe not so useful for the majority of students.
Walking back up though the town, I noted a lot of empty shops and none more upsetting than Cob Records. I may not have been the biggest buyer of records whilst at university, but Cob was a fantastic independent record shop which kick-started my vinyl-buying. HMV now has a prominent place in the centre of town, just to rub salt into wounds. What else has changed? The Deiniol Shopping Centre has had a facelift and there is now a large Debenhams and even a Marks and Spencer, and the National Milk Bars coffee shops that we used to frequent have been replaced by the likes of Costa Coffee.
Many of the pubs in town have changed since I was a student, some have gone completely, but the Waterloo still retains its name. We used to go there to the weekly pub quiz; not only were we quite successful at the quiz, we also got fed chip butties for free! After winning on a number of consecutive weeks though, they stopped giving us a prize- I think someone was a little upset with us! Not very sporting if you ask me.
Last port of call before returning to the car was the Octagon night club. I am proud to say that, not being part of the white stiletto brigade, I only went there twice in the whole of my time at university. It was a cattle market. It did however, have the most bizarre light show at 9pm each night when an octopus-shaped lighting rig flashed and vibrated before descending over the dance floor. Only in Bangor.... The Octagon's only redeeming feature was that, owing to local licensing laws, it closed at midnight!
My desire for nostalgia suitably satiated, our next port of call was Conwy. My previous visit here whilst at university is marked by my crawling on hands and knees along the town walls; I've never been good with heights. Not one to be beaten, I was up for a second attempt, but mum wimped out well before me so we only managed the first 50 yards! Instead we went for something a little lower and had a nose inside the Smallest House in Great Britain. It really is tiny- hard to believe that it's last inhabitant was over 6 feet tall.
I have now made a deal with myself that I won't leave it so long again between visits to Wales. Perhaps next time I visit I will stay at Y Garth guest house! Or maybe not.
A few photos from Bangor and Conwy are here.
First stop was at my student residence, Y Garth.
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| Y Garth- now back to being a guest house |
There were twelve of us living at Y Garth and, although I am still in touch with a couple, I often wonder what happened to the rest. Where is Mark, the Yorkshire lad who used to walk out of the room covering his eyes whenever a Tampax advert came on the television? And what about David who I can still see now standing on a chair in the middle of the lounge singing and dancing to Abba's 'Dancing Queen' enrobed in the velvet curtains from his bedroom window! Also, Magnus, the quiet Swede who, when living with us the following year went a little strange after staying up all night every night playing computer games.
I have hugely fond memories of living at Y Garth and standing outside after so many years did seem very strange; being a guest house now it was a little bit tempting to go in for a quick nose, but I think I would rather remember it in its true squalor of 1993!
Onwards from Y Garth, and we walked down towards Bangor Pier. This took us past one of my old haunts, the Tap and Spile pub. When we first arrived in Bangor, this pub was called the Garth Hotel and all our post used to get mistakenly delivered there which meant that each day one of us had to walk down to collect it. Not long after it was refurbished and became the Tap and Spile, and it is still there now, though looking a little run-down. I remember the landlord chatting to us one night and telling us about the number of glasses that got stolen each week; how we managed to keep our faces straight knowing that we had a nice cupboard of Tap and Spile glasses at our house I do not know!
Very often when we left the pub we used to walk across the road down to the edge of the Straits. On one occasion some of the lads thought it would be clever, as the tide was out, to try to wade across to some moored boats. Probably not one of the most sensible things to do when you've had a couple to drink. I can't remember how far they got but at least they came back alive.
Walking along Bangor Pier, I was reminded of just how windy it always is! Even on the sunniest days with very little breeze, it is always blowing a gale by the time you are half way down the pier. This time the weather was just about holding up in Bangor, but looking back inland towards the mountains, there were storm clouds galore. The views across the Straits to Anglesey were as beautiful as ever and despite the cloud coverage we had views out to Llandudno.
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| Looking down the Straits towards Beaumaris and Llandudno |
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| Looking back along the pier to the town and the mountains beyond |
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| Felt a bit like a stalker taking this one! |
Friars Road had everything a student might require right on the doorstep. A pub, a takeaway, an off-licence and Kwik Save (which always had a plentiful stock of 97p-a-bottle Chateau Manville for all your pre-night out drinking needs). I was glad to see that these were all still present, with the exception of Kwik Save, which now seems to have turned into a children's indoor play area- maybe not so useful for the majority of students.
Walking back up though the town, I noted a lot of empty shops and none more upsetting than Cob Records. I may not have been the biggest buyer of records whilst at university, but Cob was a fantastic independent record shop which kick-started my vinyl-buying. HMV now has a prominent place in the centre of town, just to rub salt into wounds. What else has changed? The Deiniol Shopping Centre has had a facelift and there is now a large Debenhams and even a Marks and Spencer, and the National Milk Bars coffee shops that we used to frequent have been replaced by the likes of Costa Coffee.
Many of the pubs in town have changed since I was a student, some have gone completely, but the Waterloo still retains its name. We used to go there to the weekly pub quiz; not only were we quite successful at the quiz, we also got fed chip butties for free! After winning on a number of consecutive weeks though, they stopped giving us a prize- I think someone was a little upset with us! Not very sporting if you ask me.
Last port of call before returning to the car was the Octagon night club. I am proud to say that, not being part of the white stiletto brigade, I only went there twice in the whole of my time at university. It was a cattle market. It did however, have the most bizarre light show at 9pm each night when an octopus-shaped lighting rig flashed and vibrated before descending over the dance floor. Only in Bangor.... The Octagon's only redeeming feature was that, owing to local licensing laws, it closed at midnight!
My desire for nostalgia suitably satiated, our next port of call was Conwy. My previous visit here whilst at university is marked by my crawling on hands and knees along the town walls; I've never been good with heights. Not one to be beaten, I was up for a second attempt, but mum wimped out well before me so we only managed the first 50 yards! Instead we went for something a little lower and had a nose inside the Smallest House in Great Britain. It really is tiny- hard to believe that it's last inhabitant was over 6 feet tall.
I have now made a deal with myself that I won't leave it so long again between visits to Wales. Perhaps next time I visit I will stay at Y Garth guest house! Or maybe not.
A few photos from Bangor and Conwy are here.
