Castle Square Bus Terminus

A Memory of Caernarfon.

Castle Square of the 1950s and 60s had a vibrancy that is absent nowadays. This was because all of the local bus services terminated there and a constant stream of people dismounted to go about their business throughout the day. People from the hillside communities came to town to do their shopping, buy food, clothing, hardware etc. Families arriving from Liverpool on the coach would change here to local buses to Dinas Dinlle, Nantlle or Waenfawr if revisiting their relatives and places of birth.

There were buses in every colour of the rainbow. Mr Williams's Whiteway vehicles were the most noticeable, but Motorcoch (Clynnog & Trefor) in red and cream looked most dignified. (They served Pwllheli on a service of over an hour's duration.) Silver Star buses in reds and blues vied for position with Express Motors' mainly red vehicles that ran to Rhostryfan and other, maybe less exotic destinations in the hills. Dominant upon the bus 'stance' were the Green buses of Crosville Motor Services who operated more than twenty routes from the town.

In the late 50s, Saturday night in the 'square was synonymous with throngs of people who, when the cinemas and pubs emptied would all head for their buses home at essentially the same time! The Salvation Army would be in attendance by the fountain, singing and selling copied of the 'Warcry', all this adding to the general melee. There would be maybe twenty or more buses all waiting for the ten o'clock 'getaway to the hills'. The Crosville Stand Inspector (Phillips?) would 'rack up' his many vehicles ready for the 'off'. The arrival of the Liverpool coach at nine fifty five, heralded the start of many engines and the rush for their bus by many often unsteady patrons. On the stroke of ten, the ensemble of buses would all move forward, surging for their place in the grand exit. Then quite surprisingly, a silence would descend on the square, interrupted only by the rustle of discarded chip papers and other litter blowing about. There were a few more Crosville departures but other than for these, the square would fall silent until the next morning. The multicoloured surge of overloaded vehicles would all be heading  to their small upcountry destination villages, to slumber overnight in their depots - often little more than overgrown sheds. Crosville had their own large brick and concrete depot in the town itself.

Castle Square was in those days the centre of the town's activity and even today, with the relocation of the bus station some years ago, it remains a place of great interest.