I was passing
Swansea Jail last week, and I noticed that the pub alongside it – the one that
stands ‘just off the Mumbles Road, at the
end of Argyle Street’, as Harri Webb described it, was due to re-open last
Friday evening. It’s no longer to be
called the Glamorgan Arms; it’s been re-named as ‘The Lock-Up’, presumably due
to its proximity to Cox’s Farm.
I don’t actually
know whether Harri’s Uncle Will really did keep the pub; I never got round to asking him. It may just be a bit
of poetic licence to fit the rhythm of the poem. But Harri’s roots in Swansea were strong, and he often drew on his
roots in his work, so it’s perfectly possible that it was indeed his Uncle
Will.
The poem was set to
music and sung by the Hennesseys on the Green Desert LP – essential listening
for all young nationalists in the late 1960s / early 1970s.
I also noted that the
building has been repainted – it’s now a bright shocking pink colour. Somehow, I don’t think Harri would have
entirely approved.
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2 comments:
John
Not the usual blog for you but an interesting one all the same.
As a Jack I used the "links" which are invariably of interest in your articles It appears that Swansea Jail or more strictly Oystermouth road outside the prison was the scene of the last public hanging in Wales in 1889.
John;
Once again your blog brings memories flooding back. The last time I heard Cox's Farm being sung was at a Plaid conference in Llandudno. I never had any desire to attend the Bourgois Banquet that Plaid puts on. The real party is taking place in one of the hotels where the Hwyl is in the singing and the laughter. I still recite Harri's poems here in California. The last time I did so was at the West Coast Eisteddfod in Los Angeles last year.
I never had residence in the Farm myself, I ran too bloody fast, I was at a number of domonstrations outside. Ffred Ffransis was there often enough and my son did 10 days for refusing to pay Maggie's Poll Tax.
t seems concept pubs are thing in Wales these days so I suppose "The Lock-Up" is just following a trend. But PINK? in the name of all the Gods, a pink pub in the Sandfields must make more than Harri turn in his grave.
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