Oystermouth Square

The trail begins in Oystermouth Square (approximately 5 miles from Swansea centre). You will know you have arrived in Mumbles as you approach a mini-roundabout and see ‘The White Rose’ pub across to your right. Turn left almost immediately after the roundabout or a hundred yards further on for ample car parking. Walk over the car park or through the Tivoli Walk to the main road and turn left.

In his early autobiographical letters to Pamela Hansford Johnson, Dylan describes his nights in Mumbles, which were supposed to be evenings spent in intense rehearsals with the local amateur dramatic group Swansea Little Theatre, with short breaks for a refreshing libation at one of the many local pubs. In reality, they became long evenings misspent drinking too many pints of ‘oystered beer’ in The Antelope’ (still there), ‘The Marine’ (now ‘The Village Inn’), or the Mermaid (lost in a fire but rebuilt as a restaurant), with ever shorter thespian interludes.

Dylan was an enthusiastic and talented actor. He performed in many school productions before joining the ‘Little Theatre’. They rehearsed and performed in a church hall in Southend, which is now the Mumbles Motor Boat and Fishing Club.

Dylan starred in many plays, but the lure of so many pubs close by eventually led to his being thrown out of the group on the eve of a production.

‘The Mermaid’, which Dylan described as ‘My Mumbles Mermaid (bless her hair and her tail)’, is now a restaurant but ‘The Antelope’ is still much as it was when Dylan propped up the bar. You will see this as you walk a couple of hundred yards along the road, on the right.

The walk along the front will take you past several other pubs where Dylan enjoyed a drink, and the hall where he acted, which is up a very steep slope.

Carry on along the front towards the pier…