Town in focus

Exploring Pwllheli

Steve Goodier takes the new Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass to Pwllheli, and discovers a bustling seaside town full of memories…

One of my very earliest memories of coming to North Wales

was of being carried on the shoulders of my father along the

seafront and past the harbour at Pwllheli. I have no idea what

we were doing there and my dear old dad couldn’t enlighten me

either, but I recall it was a sunny day and to my young eyes the

sea looked almost Mediterranean blue. It was on a similarly blue

sky day many years later I stopped for a break from driving by

the sea here and was sat on a bench eating some sandwiches and crisps when I was joined by a man walking his dog. We

got to talking and he told me how he had started in business with a small stall on Pwllheli seafront selling sweets, rock and

ice cream and had progressed to owning several of the town’s

shops plus a successful builder’s merchants nearby. He left

me after bemoaning the fact that he thought the town’s tourist

season had shrunk to cover only the summer period from This conversation took place some years ago and he may have

been right at the time, but modern day Pwllheli is bustling

and busy.

It’s true that the Llŷn Peninsula has many and varied

attractions and the likes of Pwllheli feels a very long way for

visitors driving to it from England, but it has charm and is

much loved by tourists and day trippers alike.

The town’s name means ‘salt water pool’ and it has a long

history and received its borough charter in 1355 by Edward the

Black Prince – a market is still held weekly on Wednesdays (and Sundays in summer) in the centre of the town at Y Maes (literally ‘the field’ or ‘the town square’).

THE TOWN’S NAME MEANS ‘SALT WATER POOL’ AND IT HAS A LONG HISTORY AND RECEIVED ITS BOROUGH CHARTER IN 1355 BY EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE

and runs more or less the entire length of the long promenade from the unmistakable Gimlet Rock (the site of a former granite quarry) to continue towards Penrhos and Llanbedrog. There is

plenty of space for children to play around and also a play area

and skate park nearby just to keep them interested. Marian-

y-de beach temporarily lost its Blue Flag status in 2021 due to

their being no full time beach warden, but the local council are

looking to rectify this and hope Blue Flag status will be restored

for the 2022 holiday season.

For those who like to sail Pwllheli Marina is thought to be one

of the very best in the United Kingdom and boasts around

400 berths. On a bright breezy day the colourful boats make located on Cardigan Bay, at either the entrance to this peninsula

or at the end of it depending on your point of view. Either way it

is to be found in a stunning situation and makes an ideal base for exploring the surrounding Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty and the lovely beaches, coast and towns around it. The

town’s beaches are predominantly south facing and it says

much that they have been awarded the much sought after

European Blue Flag Award. There is plenty of space on them to

find a nice spot on a windless sunny summer’s day and just lay

back and relax – they never seem to get too full or overcrowded.

Near the marina you will find Glan y Mor beach which is very

sheltered and lovely and sandy and starts near the river mouth

and runs for about three miles. The towns other beach, South

Beach (Marian –y-De), is predominately shingle and pebble an impressive sight and owners travel from great distances away to berth here and have the freedom to take their crafts

out onto the sparkling waters of Cardigan Bay. The Marina is

designated a ‘European Centre of Excellence’ for sailing and

is the venue for several national and international sailing and water sports events and is the home to both Pwllheli Sailing Club and The Welsh National Sailing Academy (Plas Heli).

The harbour at Pwllheli has a long and varied history and

you only have to go back as little as just over a hundred

years ago to realise it was one of the main fishing and ship

building areas for North Wales and often had as many as 30

ships under construction at any one time. The harbour was

THE HARBOUR AT PWLLHELI HAS A LONG AND VARIED HISTORY AND YOU ONLY HAVE TO GO BACK AS LITTLE AS JUST OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO TO REALISE IT WAS ONE OF THE MAIN FISHING AND SHIP BUILDING AREAS FOR NORTH WALES AND OFTEN HAD AS MANY AS 30 SHIPS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT ANY ONE TIME

houses at West End and began upgrading the promenade. As a place to live Pwllheli gives residents a mixture of the old and traditional and the more modern and up to date.

For many years tourists knew the town because of the large

Butlins Holiday Camp which was located a few miles away at Pen-y-Chain. During the war it became a navel camp (HMS Glendower) but the holiday camp was re-established by

Butlins after the war was over. The camp is now run by The

Haven Group and has been redeveloped and re-named Hafan y Mor (Haven of the sea).

Pwllheli has a population of around 4,000 people with over 80%

of these being Welsh speakers. The town hosted The National

Eisteddfod in 1925 and 1955 and was the birthplace of The

Welsh Poet Sir Albert Evans-Jones.

And, for a final fact did you know that Plaid Cymru was

founded in Pwllheli?

The town is an all year round destination but gets very busy in

the main summer months when the discerning holiday makers

and day trippers arrive – but I expect it wouldn’t surprise you

to discover they come from not just over the border, but Wales

too, would it? n

also a major docking point for ships carrying wine from the

Continent which were destined for the shops and merchants

of nearby Welsh towns and villages. And if you go back even

further the harbour and surrounding coastline was a haven for pirates and smugglers!

Indeed, at one time, the sea was one of the major ways for

many to reach the town but the arrival of the railway line

allowed a more varied clientele to start visiting and moving into the area and Pwllheli started to develop and demonstrate its potential as a business and tourist centre. Pwllheli Railway Station is the terminus for the modern day Cambrian

Coast Railway which runs to Machynlleth and then on to

Shrewsbury and Birmingham. Until 1927 a tramway linked

the town to nearby Llanbedrog.

Today the local road network is excellent with the likes of

the A497 linking the town to Porthmadog, and the new A487 bypass to Caernarfon (hopefully) means the end of bottlenecks.

Pwllheli is a friendly town with lots of character and a pleasure

to walk around. The narrow streets are atmospheric and

the shops a good mixture of independent traders, traditional

seaside shops such as ice cream outlets, souvenir shops and

plenty of places to buy buckets and spades – but alongside these you will find three modern supermarkets.

Although, as we have already said, Pwllheli grew around the

ship building industry, it really began to develop in the 1890’s

when Cardiff Businessman Solomon Andrews invested in

Steve Goodier is an outdoor writer and photographer who specialises in North Wales. He has walked and explored all over the world and is the author of 11 walking books with a further two on Snowdonia due to be published shortly.