Ted and I have paid five visits to Anglesey (Ynys Môn in Welsh) in recent years (including twice at Christmas and most recently in September 2024) to visit our friends Steve and Stu in Beaumaris. We’ve managed to explore a bit of the island and visit nearby areas of Gwynedd, particularly Bangor and Caernarfon, which we have included on this page. For the remainder of North Wales see Around North Wales .
Beaumaris is on the east coast of Ynys Môn, across the Menai Strait from Bangor, the most convenient railway station. From there it is easily reached by bus, though different routes call at various villages along the way. This means the journey can take from 30 to 50 minutes. It always seems that the longest way round, via Llanddona, is after you’ve had a few pints and have a full bladder. While the countryside is pleasant, after you’ve detoured to Llanddona once you don’t really need to see it again.
The highlight of the journey was crossing the original Menai Suspension Bridge (built by Telford and opened in 1826, high above the Menai Strait to allow high-masted ships to pass), where the bus had to squeeze through the arches with inches to spare. Weight restrictions mean that, by our 2023 visit, buses now have to cross the modern Britannia Bridge. Hopefully this is a temporary restriction though, at the time of writing (Dec 2023), there is no date for the completion of remedial work on the bridge.
Beaumaris is a pleasant small town, which grew up round a castle (pictured) built in the late thirteenth century as part of the campaign by Edward I to conquer North Wales. The network of castles and town walls in the area is now a World Heritage Site. By the shore there are great views over to Bangor and Eryri (Snowdonia). The town also benefits from a warm microclimate due to its sheltered position. It is a resort and attracts holidaymakers and day-trippers, though we’ve mostly visited off-season when it becomes more typically Welsh. As elsewhere on the island there is plenty of Welsh routinely spoken and it feels a world away from Llandudno and the North Wales Coast.
Beaumaris Pier and the views over the Menai Strait to Bangor and Eryri
Steve and Stu like a drink as much as Ted and I and we’ve explored the pubs of the town. Finding real ale is easy, but by far the best is the Castle Court, across the road from the castle, which is a drinkers pub. For food, the Midland Tapas and Wine Bar on the main street is excellent – they are friendly, the beer and the food are very good and they welcome people who just to drop in for a drink (though it would be a shame not to try the tapas).
Ted enjoys a few Christmas drinks at the Midland Tapas Bar
Totally unsurprisingly, our days out have focussed on visiting pubs around the island. Near Beaumaris, in Menai Bridge (Porthaethwy in Welsh – a harbour and ferry port at the shortest crossing of the Menai Strait, which grew substantially following the construction of the bridge), Tafarn y Bont (The Bridge Inn) is fine as is the Liverpool Arms (currently closed, hopefully not permanently). A few miles north of Beaumaris is the Ship Inn at Red Wharf Bay, an old pub in a great position by a beach. A little further along the road, the Kinmel Arms at Moelfre is also welcoming.
Further afield, on one occasion we reached the northernmost pub in Wales, the Stag Inn in the pretty fishing village of Cemaes. This trip involved a change of bus at Amlwch (a town which grew up through copper mining and shipbuilding), calling in for a pint in the Dinorben Arms. In 2024 we walked down to Porth Amlwch (from where the copper was exported) for a few pints in the fine Adelphi Vaults.
Back in 2008 I spent a miserable evening in the ferry port of Holyhead, trying and failing to enjoy myself, before meeting a group the next day for a tour to Ireland. I’m told it hasn’t improved, but it is the exception locally. Holyhead is on Holy Island, just off the west coast of Anglesey and linked by road and rail bridges. Also on Holy Island, though much more attractive, we visited Trearddur Bay in 2023, a good place for beach lovers with a couple of places to eat and drink. We reached there via Llangefni, the county capital of Ynys Môn (and a quick pint in the Foundry Vaults while waiting for the next bus).
On the return journey we stopped off in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwillantysiliogogogoch, usually known by only the first 20 letters. The eponymous railway station has, of course, been on our list of stations to visit, though unfortunately this time was by bus. The place makes a great fuss of its name to attract visitors and we dropped by the station, though the highlight was a beer and good food in the Tafarn Tŷ Gwyn.
Bangor and Caernarfon
From Beaumaris the railhead (and bus station for services around Gwynedd) is Bangor. It is a small cathedral and university city. It is a bit of an odd place – pleasant enough but not much in the way of pubs in the centre of town. However, well worth a mention is Tafarn y Glôb, uphill from the station in Upper Bangor, which is a traditional, very Welsh, pub.
There are frequent buses onwards to Caernarfon. The town is a base for journeys into Eryri, via the
narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway from its new station by the old slate wharves and the Sherpa’r Wyddfa (Snowdon Sherpa) bus network (see Around North Wales ). It is the county town of Gwynedd, dominated by Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls, also built as part of the English conquest of the region. It is an old settlement (there is even a Roman Fort ) which today is is a bustling local centre and picturesque town. I recall, when I passed through on my 2016 visit to North Wales, being struck by the fact that the default language in the shops and pubs was Welsh, unlike our base Conwy where we hardly heard any Welsh spoken. Back then we managed a pint in the Pen Deitsh / Palace Vaults, which had a house beer and I got its Welsh pronunciation nearly right.
More recently we’ve visited a few others (even Tafarn y Porth, the Wetherspoons close to the bus station). By the waterfront the Anglesey Arms is a fine place to sit outside on a sunny day. The Black Boy Inn seemed dominated by (good) food when we called in, but the beer was in peak condition also. However, the best pub on our recent visit was Bar Bach (also known as Tafarn Lleiaf Cymru) which claims to have the smallest bar in Wales. It feels like an old pub though it is much more recent than it seems.
In 2024 we decided to explore further and caught the bus from Caernarfon to Criccieth (near Porthmadog). Theres a castle, a beach and two decent pubs, the Prince of Wales and the Bryn Hir Arms.
That is it for the time being. We’ll keep this page up to date after future visits to Beaumaris – we haven’t been in every pub on the island yet.
Getting around: The bus services in the area are reasonably frequent. The 1bws day ticket can be bought from drivers and used on virtually all services. The adult ticket costs £7.00, reduced to £4.70 for holders of Scottish and English Concessionary Passes (prices current at Sept 2024).
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Steve Law and Stu Hannaford for putting us up in Beaumaris, for putting up with Ted and I, for showing us around and for comments on the draft text.
Photographs: I think all the photos are by myself, though it is possible that Steve Law may have taken one or two. The first photo of the Menai Suspension Bridge is not of the bridge itself, but of a placemat in the pub. The photos of the three of us in Bar Bach and the Prince of Wales was not taken by Ted but by one of the bar staff.
Copyright: (c) Steve Gillon 2024
Go with Ted 