I see in today’s Guardian that Bangor is described as a town most tourists avoid. It’s true that one wouldn’t go there for a beach holiday and like many towns, it has not benefitted from the standard hollowing out of the centre of the city by supermarkets and car parks.
But since the Guardian fails to list what it has to offer, I suggest the following:-
The Cathedral
Not the greatest, but still worth visiting.
The University
Up on the hill above the town, difficult to explore, but with a fine Tudor Gothic building by Henry Hare.
The Pier
A beautiful, well-preserved, delicate, late Victorian pier, built out into the Menai Straits.
Treborth Botanic Garden
A lovely botanical garden run by the university and with very helpful staff.
Port Penrhyn
Easily walkable from the town centre, well worth exploring and with an absolutely excellent fish shop, The Menai Seafood Company, where you can buy clam chowder for the price of a cappuccino in Stepney..
You can also walk down the hill for lunch at Dylan’s in Menai Bridge and see Plas Cadnant just beyond, where there are highly desirable cottages to rent. And the best ironmongers in the world.
What more could you want ?
And there are no tourists.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
We went to R.H. Bunner and sons ironmongery (established 1892) in Montgomery today as we are visiting family in Shrewsbury. Maybe it’s something about Welsh ironmongers but it had everything – including the very specific things we needed to repair a door bolt and had failed to secure anywhere else. I could happily have spent the whole day there had my 90 year old father-in-law had the stamina!
I must visit Montgomery ! Charles