Tag: Dylan Thomas

Story of the day: Drinking in Dylan Thomas’ favourite local

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We’re having a pint with Dylan Thomas today in his favourite old drinking den.

My enthusiasm for Dylan and his own little corner of West Wales is well documented.

Indeed, I’m hoping to be back in Laugharne a lot this autumn as we gear up for the Dylan Thomas centenary in 2014.

Meanwhile, a story from the Weekend FT about the re-opening of Browns Hotel.

Here’s an extract:

“Browns was one of the reasons I first moved to Laugharne in the 1970s,” says George Tremlett, whose antiquarian bookshop, Corran Books, is across the road from the Grade II-listed hotel. “It was unlike any other pub I’d ever been to. Licensing laws didn’t exist here and I loved the sense of anarchy. But I also loved the fact that so many people still drinking at the bar remembered Dylan.”

The new-look Browns is a far cry from the rough-and-ready boozer of Thomas’s day. When I check in a few days after the low-key opening, there is little sign of anarchy. Instead, local real ales and plates of Welsh charcuterie are being served in the bar, while a group of regulars are tucking into a few pints at the perennially popular window seat – which was Thomas’s favourite.

Read the full story, A Seat at the bar with Dylan Thomas.

More about the Dylan Thomas centenary.

Have you visited Browns Hotel? Do you have a favourite story about Dylan’s Laugharne days?

Post your comments below.

Story of the day: Following in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas

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I’m delving back in the archives today for a story about Wales’ literary post boy.

This story first appeared in The Observer around the release of the film, The Edge of Love.

Here’s an extract:

Dylan and Caitlin are both buried in the graveyard of St Martin’s church in Laugharne, the latter joining her husband in the flower-strewn plot in 1994. The graves are marked with a simple white cross keeping watch over Laugharne and looking out across the rolling hills of Carmarthenshire.

In the cold-stone interior of the church itself, a plaque to Thomas bears the inscription from one of his most evocative poems, ‘Fern Hill’. It reads: ‘Time held me green and dying/Though I sang in my chains like the sea.’

Read the full story, Follow in the Footsteps of Dylan Thomas.

You’ll be hearing more form me about Dylan in the autumn of this year as we gear up for the centenary of Dylan’s birth in 2014.

Did you enjoy this story? Do you have a memory of Dylan to share?

Post your comments below.