The Bay (Y Bae)

Address: 35/37 Marine Terrace, SY23 2DX. Tel: 01970 627115 [gmap]

Last of last APG visit: 20/01/2008

+++UPDATE+++

The Bay no longer has an upstairs dance floor for the time being (complaints about the noise, apparently, from the student seafront halls!!), "it now has a pool table/air hockey/seating area instead (pic here), with lighting and paintings on the wall. Very surreal. Looks like it should be like that until the summer at least."*

There's a Facebook group discussing the situation here. Sounds like the official line is that soundproofing upstairs is 'unviable'. Given the amount of wonga that used to flow into the place on Monday nights (I ran Indiesoc, back in the day) and weekends I find this a little hard to swallow...contact Brains (who now own the Bay) here and let them know your views (politely, of course). I have, and the text is reproduced at the foot of this entry for you to blag if you wish to follow suit. I sent the email 22/03. Have been acknowledged, but am still awaiting their official response - watch this space! +++Update 19/04 - still no reply...+++

Background: Believe it or not, this was a deathly-dull hotel bar 15-odd years ago. It’s now a jam-packed student dive. The last of the great ‘seafront plub’ generation from the 90’s still left standing (the Boar’s Head, Glen and the Seabank having fallen by the wayside), multi-roomed (everyone has their favourite place) with a bar at the front and a cobbled-together dancefloor at the rear and also downstairs, with sweat dripping from the ceiling and running down the walls. Post-plub aftermath has diluted it’s core appeal, there’s a few more mainstream types in there now than before. Usually charges a token entry fee after 11, so get down there early doors if you’re pikey like me.

Student factor: 100% - traditionally scruffs, Indie kids, rockers, EMO-saddo’s and alcoholics, though it's getting more and more mainstream each time I go, slowly turning into the Glen circa 1999. Now open until 3-4pm. Christ, I remember when 2pm was considered the height of decadence…

Atmosphere: After 9pm, this is the possibly still the place to be for a night out in Aber. Genuine student-types, a sticky, squelchy floor and grotty bogs. Make sure you have a shit before you get here, because the toilet pan will be plastered in faeces and vomit by midnight. Has lost something since the smoking ban, mainly the cancerous fog – some nights you couldn’t see from one end of the dance floor to another. Bay regulars of years past had lungs of 60 year old chain smokers. Some of the old fittings have been removed, which makes it a bit less homely than before and more bland.

Drinks range: Limited. Most people in here drink the legendary Snakebite and Black (aka diesel; goth juice) which is ½ lager, ½ cider and a splash of blackcurrant juice to those of you who don’t get out much. Gained notoriety in the late-90’s for being the first place in west Wales to sell the newly-legalised absinthe, and continues to sell similarly meths-based concoctions which are more suited to disinfecting hospital wards than being drunk. Queues on a weekend can be horrendous – get to know a member of bar staff, it can prove mighty beneficial when attempting to catch their eye amongst a hoard of 50 other people clamouring for more alcohol. Used to give out a free vodka with each drink in the earlier hours of trading (which got poured straight into the Snakey B) but the local plod have put a stop to that.

TV/Music: There are TV’s which are switched to whatever the barmaid was watching before the rush started. Sometimes it’s VH1, other times it’s S4C. But as we know, the main attraction here is the music, which is (or was?) usually modern alternative, Indie, 60’s and jukebox classics - although recently many more English townie centre nightclub choices are appearing at the weekends now which is bizarre; you now have to put up with what seems to be a poor attempt at Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems or Tim Westwood's Gangsta Megamix for a few hours before they put the decent stuff on the decks on a Saturday night. Whatever happened to the tall lanky bloke with the teeth who used to DJ there? He's been busted down to security, but he had it spot-on IMHO.

Other stuff: A downstairs bar, which used to host themed evenings (Indiesoc, Punksoc, various ‘proper’ dance music gigs) but they were sacked off to the Angel for some reason. Now has now been refurbed and is constant use now upstairs is shut. Also used to have a pizza hatch upstairs (toppings loosely-based on a national theme, so you’d order a 6” Welsh, or whatever) which was ace, again a strange decision to axe it. Has a demon quizzer in the back room and a knackered pool table. The hand dryer in the gents bogs looks like salvage from the Titanic and makes more noise than a 747 on take-off. Oh and Pikey Aled, landlord and occasional mayor of Aberystwyth.

Quinno’s verdict: Formerly legendary. People lost more hours of their life in here and had more good nights than you will anywhere else in Aber. However, is its power on the wane now? It used to have a toe-to-toe rivalry with the Glen, which created plenty of choice and almost tribal-like loyalty. I'm not seeing that now. Perhaps it's the fact that this place was once family-owned, but has since been acquired by Brains? Management pressure from Cardiff-based suits? I pray not.

*-Thanks to the Boy Demetrius for this info

Email text to Brains, re soundproofing the upstairs dance floor:

To whom,

My message is simple - don't be cheap. Please free-up the cash for the soundproofing required for the upstairs dance floor.

Aber used to have a great choice of high capacity, good late-licence venues, catering for many a style and many tastes - these are slowly being eroded away.

The Bay is a legendary place and has been an icon of excellence for the last 15 years. To lose its unique character would be a disaster for the students, eroding choice. The downstairs area simply isn't big enough to sustain the The Bay as the venue we wish it to be. It will go the same way as the Seabank - out of business.

I have heard various estimates as to the costs involved. Given the money that flows in on a busy Friday and Saturday night, there is surely an economic reason to invest. It isn't as if that investment would not pay itself back within a small number of years.

Brains now own a lot a lot of places in town, the independents are slipping away. Don't abuse that monopoly, otherwise people will start to see you in the same light as 'Greedy' Greene King.

I would be keen to hear your views on this matter.

Quinno (former student and resident of Aberystwyth)