Two Shores: Local Secrets, Honest Stories & the Real Llandudno
Terrible about the Christmas Extravaganza, isn't it.
That's how every conversation in Llandudno started this morning, and it's how this book starts, because it tells you something true about the town the brochures never will. It lives on its calendar. It's a Victorian resort trying, all year round, in a wind. And it's still magic anyway.
Tim came from Stockport in 2022 after thirty years of day trips and a house price in Heaton Moor that made him laugh out loud. He's still the incomer. But being new means you notice things, and he's spent four years asking the people who were born here, mostly Glenys two doors down, where they actually go.
Who it's for
Anyone who's done the pier and the tram and wondered what else there is. People who come every year and want the bits they've walked past. And anyone who's stood on the prom in September and thought "we could live here." The honest chapters are for you. Read them twice.
What you get
- The Two Shores rule, properly. Which beach is sheltered today, and how to tell from the gulls. Once you've got it you'll never have a bad day here.
- The Orme done right. The tram (sit left going up), the copper mines before eleven, the Marine Drive anti-clockwise, St Tudno's, and the goats: where they actually are and why they never really went back up after 2020.
- Chip rules instead of a chip name. Because Tim named one in the King's Head once and got shouted at by four people, two of them related to the owners.
- Conwy in ten minutes, not a day. When to go so you miss the coaches. Plus Bodnant, the Little Orme seals, the new direct Liverpool train, and Llandudno FC in the top flight.
- The honest chapters. Money, the wind, the damp, the bank closing, an older town, the season rhythm. What it's actually like to live in a seaside resort in February.
- Winter, when it's ours. The Llandudno nobody sells you.
- The spot. A flat limestone slab on the west side of the Orme that Glenys's dad showed her. Exact directions. She said not to put it in.
The details
37 chapters and appendices. 57 pages. PDF, instant download, opens on any phone, tablet or laptop. Written by someone who lives there, checked in September 2026, and you get free updates for life: when it's revised, the new file comes to you.
What it isn't
It's not a listings guide. There are no opening hours tables and no star ratings. It's one person's honest account of a town, with the useful bits made useful and the people made real. If you want a directory, the tourist board does one for free.
If it's not what you hoped, reply to your order email within 14 days and you'll get your money back. No forms.