A TRADITIONAL kiosk on Bangor Pier has reopened following a refurbishment that marks its 125th anniversary.

Bangor Deputy Mayor Cllr Owen J Hurcum and City Director for Bangor Iwan Williams handed over the keys to Avril Wayte, the chair of Friends of Bangor Garth Pier. It will be used to sell arts and crafts to raise funds for future restoration work at the pier.

The Friends of Bangor Garth Pier is said to be going from strength to strength with more than 90 members. It is now in the process of recruiting volunteers to help to run the kiosk shop , which is planned to open in May.

May 14 will be the 125th anniversary of Bangor Pier.

Mrs Wayte said: “The Friends of Bangor Garth Pier is a charitable organisation set up last year in order to support the City Council to protect the pier for the future.

“The council have very kindly allowed the Friends to have a kiosk on the pier to run a shop from which we will sell arts and crafts, including art work, pottery, jewellery, glassware, made locally to raise money to support the restoration fund for the pier in the future.

“We are really delighted to be working with Iwan and Bangor City Council to support the pier.”

Mr Hurcum said: “I was delighted to hand over the keys to a kiosk on our fantastic pier to the Friends of Bangor Pier, a group that the City Council looks forward to working with to best celebrate and promote this fantastic destination."

Mr Williams added: “We are very proud of the pier here in Bangor, it is a City Council asset and it is a pier that means a lot to people who live in Bangor now and worldwide.

“In recent years the City Council has spent £1.8 million restoring the pier to make it structurally sound. There is a great deal of support locally to support the pier going forward.

“This year on 14th May we are celebrating the 125th anniversary of the pier and its rich history. Unfortunately, due to the Covid pandemic we will not be able to have any large-scale event this year.

“However, we are planning a twelve month programme of celebrations including online talks, discussions and interviews and we hope by the second part of the year we will be able to have some small scale events on the pier culminating in May 2022.

“There are lots of exciting plans on the way and discussions taking place.”

Anyone interested in getting involved in Friends of Bangor Garth Pier can visit www.bangorpier.org