Welcome to the Menai Bridge Town Community Website
The Town of Menai Bridge
The town of Menai Bridge stands on the banks of the Menai Strait in South East Anglesey (as shown on the map). The original name for the town was Porthaethwy and this is still the name by which the town is known in Welsh. The name Porthaethwy derives from the Welsh ‘porth’ meaning a ‘port’ and ‘dindaethwy’ the name of a local tribe and means ‘the port of the tribe of Dindaethwy’. The town currently has a population of approximately 3,850.
Although most of the old businesses have stopped or have moved to bigger sites, there are a number of specialist businesses based in the town providing services. A walk down the high street shows the variety of different services available; butcher, general hardware store, kitchen design centre, antiques shops, estate agents, banks, cafes, stationers and many more. The current office of Prosiect Menai is situated overlooking the central square on the high street.
Map showing the location of Menai Bridge and the town's business area.The town is home to the one of the five secondary schools on the Isle of Anglesey, Ysgol David Hughes. The school has been based in the town since 1963 when it moved from its original Beaumaris site. The pupils in the school total around 1,400 making it the largest on Anglesey and one of the largest in North Wales. It is also one of the most successful schools in the area. There is also an excellent primary school in the town, Ysgol Y Borth.
The large car park situated behind the High Street was originally the fair field (Ffair Borth). The fair dates back to the 1680s, when it was predominately a cattle market. The fair is always held on the 24th October. Nowadays the fair is held every October and during the fair week the town has fair rides and stalls of all kinds and is enjoyed by people from a wide area.
The School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University is based in the town. They occupy buildings close to the Strait. They also have recording equipment positioned in the Strait to monitor current tide conditions. The department’s research vessel, The Prince Madog, is often docked on St George’s Pier where steamships of tourists from Liverpool once docked. The Balmoral steamship still comes for one week every year taking people around the island.
The town has a Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, Civic Society, and many other community groups and activities.
More information on the Menai Strait and the two bridges crossing it can be found at the Prosiect Menai website
