Brown's: A Bolthole On The Bay

Brown’s Hotel in Laugharne, South-West Wales, was poet Dylan Thomas’ favourite place to meet and drink. Following its restoration the hotel has become a beacon in the countryside for devotees and holidaymakers alike

- Paul Thomas

Dylan Thomas loved his local watering hole so much his daughter used to lock the poet in his writing shed on the Welsh coastline to make sure he stayed put.

Thomas was only allowed out at certain times to walk the brief journey to Brown’s Hotel in Laugharne once he had completed his day’s writing.

Brown’s – where Dylan would sit in the bay window gaining inspiration for some of his best poetry and his most famous work, Under Milk Wood.

And many have followed in his footsteps to enjoy this boutique hotel. Former US President Carter, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O’Toole, Prince Charles and Camilla, Mick Jagger, Pierce Brosnan, Cerys Matthews and many others have made their way up the three stone steps to the bar.

The hotel reopened after a major restoration by entrepreneur Nigel Short, who bought the business that was once owned by television’s Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey.

It closed down at the end of the last decade after years of neglect. Regulars and visitors feared for its future, but Mr Short secured £290,000 funding from the Welsh government and Cadw (Wales’ equivalent to English Heritage) to completely restore the building.

He wanted Brown’s to be a beacon to attract tourists to this stunning area of the Principality and re-opened in admiring splendour three years later – making it one of the central arenas celebrating the centenary of Thomas’ birth in 2014.

Now visitors to the peaceful seaside town of Laugharne, nestled in the underbelly of the rolling Camarthen countryside, can enjoy Brown’s in all its glory.

And it really is splendid.