At long last I am going to Aberystwyth!!! - in early October.
I’ll be there for 2 nights. My daytime activities are all arranged, but I will need to fill two evenings - a Monday and a Tuesday.
I know at least invofore has been to Aberystwyth, and perhaps other dopers have as well.
I’ll be staying near-ish to the castle, and will be semi-solo (meaning that I will be traveling with people I don’t know and with whom I may or may not be spending the evenings).
Any thoughts on places to eat and to get a pint or two, that will be friendly/indifferent to a solo woman? I’m a big fan of local beers (even when they’re not all that good), am a genuine omnivore and open to trying just about anything. I like most every cuisine but pub food or Welsh specialties are of particular interest on this trip. Don’t fret about price, just tell me what you think!
P.S. I you know anything about Tenby, I’d ask you the same questions about it. I’m just less excited about my two nights in Tenby than I am about Aberystwyth.
I haven’t been to Aberystwyth so can’t talk about places, but I was nearby last year – a hiking trip that started in Machynlleth – so can offer general opinions about food and beer. Lamb is a Welsh specialty and salt marsh lamb in particular is a terrific variety. Lots of good cheese, and you should be able to get local specialties. Laver bread, a paste made from seaweed, is interesting and very Welsh. Welsh rarebit is nothing special, but try it if you like the idea, especially if it’s a place that uses local cheese and freshly baked bread. Seafood should be good, although I don’t recall any local specialties. There’s a UK cooking show, Great British Menu, that has regional chefs competing against each other and often using local ingredients or recipes. Google/Youtube that show and you may get ideas.
Beer-wise, Brains is the biggest Welsh brewer and make a decent lager. Purple Moose Brewery is a smaller brewer stocked in pubs in that region and has a good range of craft beers. Tiny Rebel is another Welsh brewery that makes good craft beers, but I don’t recall if I saw them in that area. In general, craft beers and real ales are big in the UK so you shouldn’t have any problem finding something local in an upmarket pub.
Just a note of jealousy; I attended UW-Aber as an international student many years ago, and love the town and countryside. Except the wind. And the rain. And the wind.
Did you know Aberystwyth has its own literary genre; Welsh Noir? First book in the series, Aberystwyth Mon Amour highlights Sospan’s Ice Cream Kiosk and the 24-hour whelk stall. I have since avoided visiting the town for fear reality may prove anti-climactic. Recommended reading.
It’s been a long time since I lived there, so most of what I know is not current enough to be useful, but I’ll recommend Pysgoty (“Fish house”) https://pysgoty.co.uk/hafan/ which, disclaimer, is run by the sister of a friend, and disclaimer 2, I’ve never been to. But it gets great reviews and I know they’re passionate about what they do.
And if you want Fish & Chips, and have access to a car, worth the drive down to Aberaeron to the Celtic.
I am afraid to visit because according to the show Hinterland it’s a hot bed of murderous murders.
Is the 24-hour whelk stall fictional? If so I am sad.
Thanks for the tips. I’ll keep my eyes open for the brewers you mention. I would like to try laver bread, because it sounds pretty odd. I already know and like bara brith, so my Welsh culinary adventure has begun!
My thought would be that you shouldn’t get your hopes up. I spent two nights in Aberystwyth several years ago and, while the town itself was nice enough, I struggled to find places to eat. It wasn’t as if I expected anywhere fancy. But I did want something a bit better than the numerous pubs and fast food places. Just a choice of some adequate restaurants would have been fine. Yet those seemed in oddly short supply. Moreover, having just checked, the one restaurant I might have considered going back to, seems since to have closed!
I’ve visited plenty of provincial British towns and so know that dining opportunities in some of them can be limited. But Aberystwyth was by far the one with the greatest mismatch between my expectations and the reality.
I’m so jealous! I love Aberystwyth. I haven’t been there since 1997, though, so the only things I remember clearly are the Safeway (because it amazed me they had Safeway in Wales), the Druid Inn pub (do not eat the hamburgers or the fish! The burgers were like dry hockey pucks and the fish had bones) and the university (we have a friend who worked there). Oh, and the downtown shopping area, which was lovely.
I’m hoping to go back next year. It really made an impression on me.
Well, remember this was over 20 years ago so things might have changed! It seemed like a pretty cool pub, but we just didn’t have good luck with the food. Might have been because we were there pretty late and they might have been getting ready to close the kitchen.
How are you actually getting to Aberystwyth? It’s pretty much unreachable without a magical map, a Sherpa guide and knowledge of the velocity of an unladen Welsh swallow.
Those of us with Welsh heritage (the fam came over to Boston in the 1630s) possess an unerring homing instinct that will carry us effortlessly to Aberystwyth, like the swallows to Capistrano. Also I signed up for a small guided tour.
Well, this is all very exciting. I haven’t been to Aber since I was about 2 years old so I’ll leave that one, but I visited Tenby about 8 years ago.
It’s a very picturesque place - beautiful beach, lots of pretty painted Georgian houses. Admiral Nelson stayed there - his house still exists (don’t think it’s open to the public).
It’s a tourist hotspot but, and I don’t mean to sound snobby here (but I will), it’s surrounded by lots of caravan parks, which means dining options tend towards the cheap, cheerful and none too culinary. There’s a famous fish and chip shop which gets queues out the door called ‘D Fecci and Sons’ - run by an old italian family. Don’t eat in - it looks pretty shabby - instead, buy some chips and eat them on the quayside. Much more traditional.
At the smarter end of the scale, there’s The Plantagent, as much for the crazy ancient building and decor as the food. Since I went it looks like there’s a new place called the Salt Cellar which looks promising.
The CAMRA Good Beer Guide lists 3 pubs there. The Glengower Hotel, Hen Orsaf, and Ship & Castle. There will plenty of other pubs, but these three will have met the high(ish) standards to get into the guide.
Respectfully disagree. These will be the three pubs whose administrative staff is large enough to make it worth bothering to respond to the guide in a very student-filled town where foot trade is usually sufficient. Hen Orsaf, last time I was there, was the Wetherspoon’s at the train station, and basically the hotels are your last choice for the pubs. I don’t know about the Ship & Castle.
When I lived there, there were a lot of cheap take-out places, a couple of high-end restaurants, and more pubs per capita than anywhere in the region. The food culture is better now, and Wetherspoons and other mid-range places have cropped up.
