The Sailors' Arms

"Up the street, in the Sailors Arms, Sinbad Sailors, grandson of Mary Ann Sailors, draws a pint in the sunlit bar. The ship's clock in the bar says half past eleven. Half past eleven is opening time. The hands of the clock have stayed still at half past eleven for fifty years. It is always opening time in the Sailors Arms."

It's probably possible to write your life story across the great pubs you've drunk in, but writing about the legendary Kinmel Arms made me think of my favourite fictional watering-hole, from Under Milk Wood. I've always suspected that Dylan, who was great-nephew of a famous preacher and never missed a chance to write about the Welsh landscape in sacramental terms, was equating the welcome at his favourite pub with Heaven here ( in a way that enriches both.) Either way, I think it's a beautiful image which I stole for my Dad's eulogy.

On the Kinmel Arms website, Tim is apparently preparing "The Kinmel Arms Trail." I thought that ran from my front door at 1, Church Street to the bar ( about 70 metres ). And sometimes back.