No.2 Glanglasfor was once the address of Le Nautique coffee bar. In early to mid 1960s Le Nautique was a meeting place for teenagers and possibly Rhyl’s smallest live music venue ever. It was hopelessly crowded at times; I recall listening to a 4-piece group while sitting on a flight of stairs.At the time, Le Nautique may have been in the ownership of the Wright family of cafe and pub operators. It had a nautical ambience, blue lights and fishing nets on the walls. The advert above is from 1964.
The Escorts referred to in the advert were a Merseybeat group from Liverpool, and The Cresta 4 were a local band. The singer Heinz (Heinz Burt) was doing a summer season in variety at Rhyl Pavilion; he dropped in at Le Nautique just to say hello.
The black-and-white snapshot was taken at Le Nautique and shows The Cresta 4 (left to right): Jeff Sutton (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Middleton (drums), Colin Lewis (guitar) and Stuart Marshall (bass guitar). The picture was contributed by 'Lennie' to my book Rhyl Music In The Ritz Years 1955-1968.
These days at the Glanglasfor address you would find a bistro / restaurant named The Topiary, a jolly handy place for a lunch, tel (01745) 336077. On your way in or when passing, look up and see a plaque on the exterior wall; it says GLANGLASFOR VILLAS 1891.
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THU 12th FEB 2015 UPDATE: The former Le Nautique premises are now a music venue again,Tiallili's Soul Bar operated by DJ Pete McGuiness.
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THU 5th JAN 2017 UPDATE: Local musician Charlie Thomas remembers Le Nautique as being owned by Colin Swallow. Charlie was once in a band called The Tykes. Here he is the 1960s:
The image above and the following piece about a band called Harlem Shuffle are from my book Rhyl Music In The Ritz Years 1955-1968 (published in 2004):
These names are added here for indexing purposes: Brian Beamer, Phil Wilson musician, Bill White.
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