Issue 152

Decline of Mumbles mile

12th February 2007

The number of pubs on the Mumbles mile has almost halved in recent times. Only seven pubs now remain on the mile as the area has undergone extensive gentrification in order to appeal to families and holiday makers. The mile used to consist of about 12 pubs night clubs at the end of the mile designed to be part of the end of the pub crawl. Many have now become restaurants and there are also plans to turn one of the largest recently closed pubs, The Famous Bear, into flats.

Many locals in the area have welcomed the change because it has caused reduction of sound levels and anti-social behaviour in the area associated with the increased drunkenness of pub-goes on the mile.

According to the author Brian Davis, who has written about the pub in Mumbles and the Gower, the Mumbles mile was at its peak of popularity from the 1960's up until the 1980's and has been in decline ever since.

However, large scale pub closures and the recent closure of the Lighthouse nightclub have only started happening recently.

Pub crawling on the mile has always been a popular choice for stag and hen parties in Swansea but has been frequented by students also. The Student Union still publicises the mile to freshers and people moving into the mile, but time will tell if that continues to be the case in years to come.

For most it is the Mumbles mile that puts the area on the map but Mumbles councillor Joan Peters found some good in the closing of the mile, "It's made life a great deal more pleasant for people living here. If you walk along the front you see many more families and we have some excellent new restaurants," she told the BBC.

Taxi drivers in the area have also been affected by the closing of so many pubs on the mile with one of the two taxi companies in the Mumbles area closing at the end of last year.

A combination of increased competition from the Pubs of Swansea City Centre, a revamped Wind Street, expensive drinks and a decline in the cultural appreciation of students in recent years has been blamed for the decline. The pubs in Mumbles, like many independent pubs across the country, cannot compete with super chain clubs and pubs who are able to buy their drinks from wholesalers in much greater quantity.

Dan Shaw