Colwyn Bay

Colwyn Bay is the last in this run of North Wales coastal towns.  The first sight of the towm coming out of the railway station is this clock on Station Road.

This is the Andrew Fraser Memorial clock, originally installed in September 1989, as set out in the plaque below.

It is actually a double memorial clock, as one of the engineers from Joyce clocks was killed during its installation. This is recorded on a second plaque. The book "Joyce of Whitchurch - Clockmakers 1690 - 1965" notes that the death was the result of faulty scaffolding erected by another company.

                                        

And adding layers of detail to what is a complex history for a relatively modern clock, general wear and tear meant that it had to be replaced by a new version in March 2021.

On my visit in March the clock was particularly colourful, having the addition of flowers added in celebration of St David's Day.

And finally, to add to all the plaques and signs, there is a further one from The Colwyn Bay Civic Society to mark its Heritage Award to the clock in 2006.

Along the road is the Metropole Hotel building with its prominent corner tower. The hotel was built in 1891, but was converted exactly 100 years later in 1991 to retirement flats.

There are references to the hotel being used to house the Ministry of Food during World War 2, but there are also claims that another local hotel was the one actually used.

Just along the road is the Post Office, with its clock in the window which is a common feature of such buildings. These are not great photographs due to the reflections off the window in the strong light.

St Paul's church, a Grade II listed building, is on Abergele Road opposite its junction with Sea View Road. The first part of the church was completed in 1888, but the tower with its clock was not completed until 1911.

Further down the same road is the Venue@The Clock House, which not surprisingly has a clock.

Unfortunately, the surround to the clock face, in a lovely blue, has been damaged, but as we will see in a moment the other side is in better condition. And if you look closely at the centre of the face you can make out the name W. Jones & Son, which we have to assume was a one-time occupier of this property.

As I said, the other face of the clock is in better condition.

Continuing a long way down the road, we come across what now seem to be the abandoned offices of the Regulatory Services of Conwy County Borough Council (is it a county or is it a borough?).

Hopefully this building will find another use as the clock is rather pleasing with its blue and gold colours.

And finally to my pet hate, indoor shopping centres. Luckily the Bayview Shopping Centre is quite small. It has a number of identical clocks, including one incorporated into the centre's internal sign.

I could have got a close-up picture as well, but I wasn't in the mood for finding the maangement office and asking for permission and there were some security guards lurking who wouldn't go away (shopping centres are notoriously sensitive about people taking photos in them).

And this the the end of my mini series of North Wales towns.

 

Llandudno

 Off the North Wales main line at Llandudno Junction and up the branch to Llandudno.

As so very often, our first clock sighting is at the railway station.

This is the sort of clock I like. It is situated where it is clear to see, is large enough to seen from a distance, and has a simple face - all of which makes the task of telling the time very easy. It also doesn't take much of a detective to know from the photos that this clock is at Lllandudno station.

The station was first opened in October 158, but the current buidling dates from 1892. The branch to Llandudno was originally built to serve a proposed harbour which would have served the route the Ireland, but the development of Holyhead harbour to the west put paid to this proposal. The railway now serves a nice seaside resort town.

Incidentally, the clock looked even more impressive later in the day when the sun was shining.

The town has many nice shops, some with covered pavements to provide protection from the elements, and it also has the indoor Victoria Centre on Mostyn Street. It has approximately 100,000 suare feet of shopping and claims to be "Llandudno's principal multi-storey shoppers car park (366 spaces)", which is probably true but terribly impressive. However, it is redeemed by having both an internal and external clock.

The internal clcok mirrors the one at the station in its simple effectives, although this time with an elegant blue and gold face.

The external clock sits under a broken pediment with a bell.

The clock face is a bit more ornate, but sadly it does not show the correct time.

Also on Mostyn Street is the local branch of the Halifax building society (which reminds me that I need to write up my visit to Halifax - the town - which I made in January).

And again it is a case of nice clock, shame about the time.

The Friends of Mostyn Facebook page form July 2023 was asking for as many pictures of possible of this clock over the years. The page also says that this was a gas powered illuminated clock installed in 1876.

The Home Front Museum's Facebook page (30 Decmber 2025) claims that the clock was installed to distinguish shop belonging to Richard Owen from another premises trading under the same name. The page also says that the clock was manufactured by Manchester clockmaker Samuel Burman.

Just around the corner is the floral clock.

The Friends of Mostyn Street Facebook page (which I am definitely beginning to like) of 13 July 2025 says that they are responsible for the current planting of the clock in the form of the White Rabbit's Pocket watch. This is also repaetd on a small sign.

The planting is obviously not so impressive at this time of year (late March), but it is much more impressive when it is in its floral prime.

Floral clocks were once quite common, especially in large parks and seaside resorts. The first example in the UK was installed in West Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh in 1903, with the world's first example in the Trocadero Gardens in Paris in 1892. There is a lot more information, and examples of other UK examples at gardensheritageandplanning.com. And perhaps this could be the inspiration for a subset of this blog if I can get a list of all the UK floral clocks which still exist.

I do love a bit of quirky transport, and the Great Orme Tramway fits that description nicely. The Great Orme is a headland high up to the north of the town, and the tramway (built in 1902) is surely the best way of reaching it.  More importantly for this blog, the base station (Victoria) has a clock.

The tramway's website claims that this is the only funicular tramway in Britain that runs on public roads. The trams are open sided, which wasn't very good on the very windy March day that I visited, but it is well worth the ride.

Our final Llandudno clock isn't actually there. I had seen pictures of the Millennium Clock which was situated in the middle of a roundabout on Mostyn Street, but walking up and down several times I couldn't find what should have been an obvious one to spot. A bit of detective work looking at the buildings in the background of photographs led me to find the right location.

A careful look at the vegetation revealed the base of the clock. So whilst the nearby clock on the Halifax branch has lasted for 150 years, the Millennieum clock proabably didn't make it to 25 years.

And so down the line to Colwyn Bay...