The Menai/Y Fenai

From the outside, The Menai looks like a little old lady in a woolly cardigan. When you go inside, turns out grandma’s top to toe in leopard print and ready for a night on the tiles. What I’m trying to say is that the loud and proud inside doesn’t match the stateliness of the old stone building. The heavy wooden doors and skirting has been painted bright red and I’m sure I remember equal qualities of bright yellow, purple and green splashed around the place. In fact, come to think of it, I couldn’t get the film Cool Runnings out of my head the whole time I was there.
There’s a large bar downstairs with a beer garden that is only open until 9pm (I got the feeling that The Menai gets very busy at the weekend and noise may be an issue). The bar has a pool table, a large flat screen TV playing music videos and a pool table. The staff were very friendly and I got served very quickly. However, despite it being a Tuesday night in August, it was quite dead. But then, Bangor is a University town and the place would probably be buzzing with the arrival of the students in September. If the bar wasn’t to your taste, you could try the Irish pub round the corner.
My room (number 6) was small but clean. The bedspread was straight out of the 1980s; a jazzy pattern in rich, dark colours. The bed itself was small and a little uncomfortable; I got the feeling the furnishing had been done on a tight budget. I woke up once during the night, disturbed by loud leary voices in the corridor, but got back to sleep soon enough. On the plus side, there was a TV (terrestrial only), and a kettle with tea and coffee and biscuits. And the shower was powerful and the temperature easily controlled (if your shower at home is anything like mine (a trickle of scalding water), you’ll realise how magic these two things are). In the bathroom, you get a little bar of Welsh soap, a combined shampoo and conditioner and some shower gel.
Breakfast involved cobbling something together from what I could find on the table at the top of the dining room. There was a fridge with milk and orange juice, a 4 slice toaster with only 2 slices working, cereals, bread, jam, marmalade, apples, bananas, kiwi fruit and a couple of croissants. Oh, and some little foil wrapped butters that were kept in the fridge and were rock hard. I really fancied toast and marmite, or something savoury rather than sweet, but I was out of luck. It should be compulsory to offer Marmite at breakfast.
As for location, well I knew the Menai Straights was out there somewhere, but I couldn’t see it from my room or the beer garden! On the whole, it was OK. For £45 a night.

This is a spacious and modern bar with friendly staff and a strict Think 21 Policy. They serve most drinks and the prices are fairly reasonable but not the cheapest in Bangor. There’s plenty to entertain with karaoke a good quality pool table as well as a pub quiz every Tuesday, among other things. The bar area takes up a very small amount of the premises and the rest is taken up by comfy chairs. There’s a small car park outside and it’s not far from bus stops or the University. The toilets are also spacious and cleaned thoroughly with no account of graffiti. I suggest coming here if you want drinks with friends and a fun time.

The Menai/Y Fenai is a great pub, somewhat hidden away in upper Bangor. The building had a total refurbishment a few years ago and is still looking in fine condition today. The space is airy; even during busy periods you never feel too crammed in. There is a choice of games available to play, arcade and pool and so on. A nice addition is the big screen – often used for video games. There is a small outdoor area – although be warned it fills up quickly during sunny periods. Certainly, worth a visit.