That’s the Bangor I remember, it’s just a shadow of itself now with most of the business and shoppers going to Caernarfon Road to shop. When I was a kid Bangor High street used to be buzzing with people, Tesco was in the Wellfield originally until it moved to Caernarfon Road, then Argos came to Bangor and took on the Former Tesco premises. It was nice to see the old Wellfield shopping centre again, that was demolished in the late 2000’s early 2010’s to be replaced by the Menai Centre. I’m pleased somebody took the time to video Bangor from years ago to help us remember as it’s not the same anymore.
100%.............getting rid of the wellfield.....big mistake....big thing going back to go "down" town on a Sat etc.......Antoniazzi,s cafe in the corner.........everybody went there...........
Wonderful! I would've been in either my 2nd or 3rd year at Bangor Uni when this was filmed. It's like a time portal! Seems much of it was filmed early in the morning, so I would've been going to bed about then! 😂
George Hare, who filmed the footage, did indeed go out quite early on the the morning. His way of thinking was to film as much as he could whilst it was still pretty quiet, then go back in the afternoon and film whilst it was busy and plenty of people about, so as to show a comparison. It's not quite like that anymore and i doubt if it ever will be, what with the advent of online shopping and the council in their wisdom, increasing the rents and rates which has the effect of driving the shop keepers to set up their own online businesses. I did have a thought that the same architect was employed throughout the nation, to design the same centres, as they look very similar these days. Cheers Richard.
Omg this takes me back to when i was a teenager i am originally from bangor well tan-y-bryn to be exact Bangor used to be buzzing with people going in and out of shops and on the high street and me and my parents used to go into the white lion for a drink and me a glass of coke when shopping i just moved to llanfairpwll last November from Holyhead after 12 years there and went to bangor but theres nothing there really anymore and the town center is so quiet its like a ghost town i only shop in caernarfon road now as the center has nothing really left god i miss the good old days
This is how I remember Bangor when I was a kid, when it was decent. It had a genuine sense of identity and charm about it...until Menai Centre took over. Remember the Pet Shop very well, His and Hers Furniture Store, Melin Bupur and all them sweets from Brewsters and Woolworths. It's lost all that now. Some time ago now must be over 15 years ago at least.
Yeah John, time hasn't been very good to Bangor i'm afraid. I think it's just how things are these days, the old school councils seemed to at least have some sort of pride in the areas they covered but since they died off and the "progressives" took over with their new ideas, such as increasing the rents and rates, which put many businesses off and with most of them deciding to have an online shop, which is the ways of things now, it's small wonder the town centres are falling apart.
me and my boyfriend are currently studying at Bangor university. It looks a lot different now, Great video. It was awesome to see how the town has changed😀
Yeah, i moved here in 1988 and it was a very busy place as you might expect, being a uni city. It is indeed in a rather sorry state but that's local government for you. Nadolig Llawen. ☃️
That's true Gill, although many town centres are very similar these days, i always feel like the same architect planned them all. It doesn't seem to matter where you are in the country, the high streets all seem to have a similar feel to them, charity shops, vape and mobile phone shops, the ones i grew up with some 40-50 years ago, just aren't around anymore. Such is life i suppose.
I spent 26 years if my working life in the Wellfield. Great memories but what a dump it became. It was falling apart and totally out of date. It's replacement hasn't fared that well either.
looks notthing like this now. its nearly empty with dead and depresing atmosphere. wish it was still like this video. ive got some found memories of shopping in bangor with my family around this time. this video brings those feelings and memories right back. hopfully the high streets come back to this one day. thanks for the video.
You're not wrong. As the footage shows, it was a busy place, with various quality shops and plenty of parking. I'm not sure it will ever return to how it once was, it's a lot easier to run these places down, than it is to build them back up again. God only knows what the visitors think of it now.
Caernarfon knocks the spots of run-down Bangor. Caernarfon is teeming with visitors and has the lovely walk around the castle and Aber Foreshore. Nothing like that in Bangor.@@georgekempson670
