Award-winning travel writer: ‘I’d prefer Newport over New York’
An award-winning travel writer has extolled the virtues of a much-maligned Welsh city – writing that he’d prefer a weekend in Newport than New York.
Author Ben Aitken has written a glowing love letter to the ‘Port for Metro.co.uk which is headlined ‘I’ve been to 35 UK cities, but there’s only one I’ll keep going back to’.
Describing Newport as a ‘imperfectly perfect’ city in Wales, he joked that when live on radio he expressed the opinion that he would rather have a weekend in Newport than New York, ‘the presenter almost terminated the broadcast to check I was alright’.
Nevertheless, if they were savvy the respective tourism arm of Newport City Council should snap Ben up to write all their tourist brochures as there is absolutely no doubt he loves the location that brought us Goldie Lookin’ Chain and the chartist uprising, among other fien cultursal offering sof course.
Giving historical context to the ‘Port as a boom town in the 1800s, ‘when it made money exporting coal and iron that had been mined in the valleys of South Wales’, he relays how he first visited two years ago when conducting research for a book about unsung cities.
He says it didn’t get off to thew most auspicious start.
He writes: ‘When visiting a cafe I asked the young lady behind the counter what there was to do in Newport, she said the passport office was popular. Not a good start’.
I wandered into the centre, where many of the buildings are quirky and Victorian, neither straightforwardly classic nor obviously Gothic.
Absorbing both local history and culture he takes a trip to the Westgate Hotel a key location in the chartists uprising of 1839 led by John Frost which saw 20 killed.
He enthuses about the recently restored indoor market, Rogue Welsh Cakes, (‘whose cakes were the best I’ve munched on’) and the landmark Transporter Bridge.
He writes: ‘The bridge somehow manages to incorporate a gondola, which is a nice instance of globalisation if there ever was one – bit of Venice in South Wales, don’t mind if we do.
‘It’s one of only a handful of transporter bridges in the world, which might imply that they’re not ever so practical.’
After a strenuous stint at the Newport Velodorome (‘After five minutes it felt like I’d been pedalling for an hour’) he took in a game of rugby at Rodney Parade (‘nice pies’), he headed for a stay at Celtic Manor.
‘I spent most of the next day in a jacuzzi (when in Rome), then headed back into town for dinner at an Italian called Vittorio’s.Vittorio’s is run by third-generation Italian ex-pats, and is top class. Everything about my meal was spot on, not least the meatballs.’
He leaves his most glowing recommendation to last.
‘My final stop was Le Pub, a community-minded boozer at the top of the high street, whose big front terrace was heaving with public-spirited folk. Like Newport itself, the vibe was warm, quirky, open, and a tiny bit unhinged.
‘I spent too long in Le Pub, I don’t mind saying, chatting with the locals, having a dance, slagging off Bristol, and quietly coming to the conclusion that, despite its imperfections, Newport might just be the best city in Wales.’
Read the full Metro article HERE
Ben Aitken is the author of Sh!tty Breaks – A Celebration of Unsung Cities. Find out more about Ben HERE
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The author is spot on with regard to the Newport Transporter Bridge – went on it as a child and was mesmerized by the obvious engineering that went into it. Got me interested in applied science! According to family lore, my great grandfather was an engineer from Scotland who moved to Bedwas from whence he was behind many of the wee bridges that ‘coal trucks’ (coal trains) traveled over to get to the docks on the South Wales coast. (I’m now an inventor listed on around 10 patents and in my great grandfather’s honour decided to do a PhD at a Scottish… Read more »