Monday, October 26, 2026
Reform's link to Iranian regime revealed
The paper says that Hossein Ghandehari, also called Sasan, was little known in the UK until he pledged to give millions to Reform UK this summer and donated £50,000 to Farage to cover the cost of two passes for the Davos World Economic Forum.
They add that he has said he is moving his tax residency from Switzerland to the UK in order to make “regular payments” of more than “one or two million” to the party:
The 61-year-old Iranian-born British businessman, who says he runs a $10bn (£7bn) fund called HP Trust, has declined to give details about how his family made its money beyond saying the fund owns assets in Europe and North America.
Now, a French arbitration decision unearthed by the Guardian sheds some light on Ghandehari’s past dealings with Iranian state-linked entities between 2013 and 2016.
It also reveals Ghandehari’s further Iranian business links to another Reform UK donor, John Richard Simpson, an administration professional and church warden from Potters Bar, north of London. Simpson’s design firm, Interior Architecture Landscape, counts the Ghandehari family as a client and gave £200,000 to Reform UK last year.
Farage has been highly critical of Iran over the past year, and in March accused it of being a bigger danger to the UK than Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
The French judgment reveals that Ghandehari was the major investor behind a deal to supply and build a fibre-optic cable to carry telecoms traffic across Iran in a joint venture with a state-linked Iranian partner.
The businessman’s HP Trust was the ultimate owner of Ori Group, which took a 49% stake in the venture, called Omran Razavi International Co, in 2015.
The other 51% of the venture was owned by Astan Quds Razavi (AQR), a multibillion pound religious foundation in Iran’s second city of Mashhad.
AQR’s leader at the time was ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi, who was appointed custodian of the foundation by the first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, and served from the 1979 revolution until his death in 2016. Vaez Tabasi had been an ally of some reformers but remained close to the next supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and, according to the BBC, was reported by state media in 2009 to have said of opposition protest movements that those behind “sedition” in the country were “enemies of god” who deserved to be executed under sharia law.
The joint venture ended in about 2016, with the Ghandehari-backed entities being pushed out of the deal as a hardliner was appointed to replace Vaez Tabasi.
The US imposed sanctions on AQR in 2021, saying it controlled “large swaths of the Iranian economy, including assets expropriated from political dissidents and religious minorities, to the benefit of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian government officials”. It describes it as a bonyad, one of the “opaque, quasi-official organisations generally controlled by current and former government officials and clerics that report directly to the supreme leader”.
Ghandehari’s lawyers said it would be misleading to characterise him as “working with Iran” without the context that, after 2016, he was targeted by Iran’s supreme national security council with the false allegation that he was working with hostile western powers. They also said his involvement was intended to promote political change through greater access to information, which he believed was why the US and French authorities authorised the project.
Tom Keatinge, the director of the Centre for Finance and Security at Rusi, the foreign affairs thinktank, said dealing with Iran “has always been a risky business as a financial institution because of this blurring between kind of state and the private sector. The private sector is not free to operate. It’s just very hard to operate in that country without touching a live rail.”
He said there was clearly a range of positions among ayatollahs but it would be “pretty difficult to operate in an industry like telecoms” without the acceptance of the core leadership.
The judgment also revealed that, until 2016, Ghandehari’s HP Trust was the owner of Orico General Trading LLC, which was contracted to supply telecoms equipment from France’s Alcatel-Lucent and transport it from Dubai to Iran. After 2016, this company was transferred to Simpson, the administration professional, who was responsible for winding down Orico’s operations and taking hundreds of staff out of the region.
Simpson told the Guardian he acquired the company after Iranian extremists took over AQR, when the project’s assets were seized and those involved faced political persecution on national security grounds, including accusations of working for hostile western governments. He said his plan was to wind down the business, adding that he carried out detailed checks before acquiring Orico.
Ghandehari’s lawyers said AQR was independent and respected, and therefore the only viable choice for a joint venture in Iran. They said Ghandehari had never met Vaez Tabasi and that he did not regard him as an advocate for freedom or human rights but had believed him to be the only force in the Iranian hierarchy capable of holding back the hardliners in order for the project to go ahead.
I wonder of Donald Trump knows.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
British music only!
According to its promotional blurb, it will be “dedicated exclusively to artists from Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, with tagline “all British, all day”. By way of further explanation, one of its presenters, the black GB News host Nana Akua, says that “It’s easy to forget how this country has shaped the global music landscape” – a strange point instantly disproved by a mention of any number of artists (such as those four fairly successful fellas from Liverpool). But here, perhaps, is the strangest thing of all: according to GB Media, every track on the station’s playlist will be an “artist from Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or where the main proportion of the band is British.”
This sparks no end of questions. Does anyone in the ordinary world actually perceive music like this? Will someone frantically be employed to sift through Wikipedia, finding out whether this or that band fits the “main proportion” criterion? What will happen in the case of, say, the Gallagher brothers, who self-identify as Irish – and should, therefore, be excluded for the same reasons as U2, CMAT and Fontaines DC? Should the Jimi Hendrix Experience be ruled in or out, given that the two supporting members of the trio were respectively from Ealing and Folkestone? And to get into the real nitty-gritty, how exactly are the programmers defining “British”?
We all know the jaw-dropping conversations taking place in GB News-adjacent circles about national identity. The Tory-to-Reform defectors Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman see Englishness as an ethnic identity. If this definition wins out, which is quite conceivable, what will happen then? A playlist cull that will leave little apart from the musical equivalent of sliced white bread?
There are more fascinating questions to ask. There has been an on-off debate about whether Britpop was partly responsible for Brexit. As the writer of a book about that cultural wave, I have always clung on to the idea that because its nationalistic(ish) animus was focused on the US, and the demographics of Leave voters do not map on to the Britpop generation, no one had any case to answer. But this latest development brings on a slight pang of unease. In retrospect, the large-scale whiteness of Britpop was, as we say these days, rather problematic. On a musical level, it accounts for its chronically limited range of influences and inputs, which led to it burning out pretty quickly. But it also left it open to what might turn out to be a belated act of appropriation: whatever music the new station plays, I would imagine that Oasis, Blur, Pulp et al will be an integral part of its output. Put another way, the Farage-ist tanks are now surely heading for Britpop’s metaphorical lawn.
Inquiries to a couple of music lawyers established that musicians cannot stop radio stations that possess the relevant licences and pay the required royalties from playing their material. Self-evidently, however, they could quite easily express their displeasure at the prospect of being part of a constant Farage-ist soundtrack. In the excellent new Oasis documentary, Don’t Look Back in Anger, Noel Gallagher rightly says that his band was never “a rightwing thing … All are welcome. It’s we and us.” In the context of GB Music Radio, he should translate that into something slightly more specific. So should the already embattled Ed Sheeran, Adele, what remains of the Rolling Stones, the former members of Dire Straits and everyone else who is – and isn’t – mentioned in the station’s launch statement. The music all of them make, after all, is founded on precisely the kind of cultural mixing that so many voices associated with GB News take against.
I don't think I will be listening.
Saturday, October 24, 2026
The church and the lifeboat memorial
The Gower Holidays website says of St Cattwg's church in Port Eynon that it was founded during the 6th century by St. Cattwg’s missionary to Gower, St. Cennydd:
The present building dates from the 12th century and was given to the Knights of St. John by Robert de la Mare around 1165.
The doorway is probably sixteenth century, and the holy water stoup in the porch is said to have been given by a Spanish sea captain in gratitude to his rescuers.
In the south wall of the chancel is a blocked up leper’s window which can be clearly seen from outside the church. During alterations in 1861 the gallery in the nave was removed and the west end enlarged to accommodate the parish’s growing population.
The stained glass windows are by Celtic Studios and Glantawe Studios, two leading Welsh firms of the 20th century. There are other memorials of interest to discover in the church and churchyard.
In the churchyard, is a memorial to the three lifeboat crew who lost their lives at sea in 1916. The lifeboat station was closed in 1919, when it was considered too dangerous to be located in Port Eynon. A new lifeboat station was opened in Horton in 1968.
In the churchyard, is a memorial to the three lifeboat crew who lost their lives at sea in 1916. The lifeboat station was closed in 1919, when it was considered too dangerous to be located in Port Eynon. A new lifeboat station was opened in Horton in 1968.
Labels: lochist
Friday, October 23, 2026
Plaid Cymru bottle council tax reform
They say that Elin Jones claimed that the decision was made because she could not afford the kind of financial relief she would want to put in place if she went ahead with a planned revaluation in two years' time.
However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has described her explanation as "nonsensical" and "absurd logic", while the Welsh Labour finance spokesperson Huw Thomas accused Plaid of failing to back progressive policies in government, pointing out that in opposition, Plaid claimed the moral high ground on this issue and promised action in their manifesto, but instead they are showing political and moral cowardice.
The reasoned and intellectual case against this delay, however, was made by David Phillips, an economist working for the IFS. In a thread on Twitter, he argued that both the government and opposition were wrong in their analysis of what the revaluation would mean:
1. With council tax bills based on 2003 property values, households living in properties with the same values now can face bills differing by hundreds of pounds a year. In effect over 40% are in the wrong band, over 20% paying too much and 20% too little council tax.
2. Revaluation and reform was aimed to be revenue-neutral. Guaranteeing that would be hard given councils set tax rates not Welsh Govt but Welsh Govt planned to reset bands based on modern values and maintain council funding - so no need to increase overall average bills.
3. There is a big change to revaluation process. Back in 2003 they fixed the bands BEFORE doing valuations. Because property values in 2003 were booming, they'd ended up setting thresholds too low. This time they'd VALUE FIRST then set bands, so could avoid this problem!
4. Without a revaluation, any reform to make council tax less regressive (e.g. a new top band) is only fiddling around the edges and risks applying it to the 'wrong' properties. The Scottish Govt had to shelve plans to make its tax less regressive because values were out of date!
5. The government's stated reason to delay revaluation makes NO SENSE. It says it will cost too much to phase in bill increases. It refuses to phase in bill decreases too to cover the cost. So instead those due cuts in bills won't get any cut at all. That's absurd logic.
6. Is the supposed cost of transitional relief instead a convenient fig leaf for a Government not wanting to expend political capital on the necessary but thorny task of fixing an out of date unfair system? Two delays in a row risks this can being repeatedly kicked.
7. As the Minister says we have been undertaking analysis for Welsh Govt and will publish a report to inform stakeholders about what revaluation and reform of council tax would entail - and so what delay means.
8. But our views on the desirability of revaluation and reform are well known. And the Welsh Govt has always respected our independence and that that means we must be able to make our views known. Despite today's disappointment I'm thankful for that mature relationship.
The Plaid Government are committed to making council tax fairer, but as David Phillips says, without a revaluation any reform will be ineffective. They cannot do this piecemeal. It is likely thought that, after this decision, it may not happen at all.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Senior Reform official casts doubt over legality of huge donations
The paper says that James Orr, who was then Reform UK’s head of policy and a Cambridge professor, discussed potential difficulties around future donations from Harborne and Delo in undercover footage captured by the investigative reporting group Verbatim:
A reporter was posing as a potential donor when Orr talked to him about “filling the war chest in anticipation” of tougher donations rules, describing it as the establishment trying to “kneecap” the party.
Orr was suspended as Reform’s head of policy last month after Channel 4 broadcast some of Verbatim’s undercover filming in which he appeared to discuss ways to get around funding laws to allow donations from a US-based donor.
The matter is under police investigation and he remains suspended, although Reform has released its own report clearing Orr and another official of wrongdoing.
The new footage has been shared with the Guardian after a public debate about whether the two £36m donations from Harborne and Delo to Reform UK will be allowed under the cap. The party maintains the donations are legal, pointing out that the retrospective overseas donor cap has not yet been passed into law.
In the footage, recorded in July this year, Orr expressed doubt about whether Delo and Harborne would still be able to donate given that, when it does become law, the £100,000 overseas donor cap is to cover party donations dating back to March this year.
Orr believed Delo would probably meet the residency test as long as he was not required to have been a tax resident, in which case he would be “stuffed”. He said Harborne was “probably more of a challenge” in terms of avoiding the overseas cap and he “can’t do anything for 12 months” after moving back.
Harborne had been living in Thailand until he registered to vote in Hampshire this summer, and Delo has long been resident in Hong Kong, though he has been on the UK domestic register for some years.
The new law will limit overseas donors to giving £100,000 a year to a political party. It will apply to donations made after March 2026, and will require any domestic donor who wants to give more than £100,000 to have been resident in the UK for at least a year.
Until the bill becomes law of course, we will not know whether the donations are legal, but the fact that a senior official in Reform had doubts must be enough to question whether the party undertook due diligence before accepting the money.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
More ministerial dissent over Labour's immigration policies
The paper says that Miatta Fahnbulleh said that extending the time that foreign citizens had to wait before being granted indefinite leave to remain threatened “the process of building cohesion”, she also warned that Labour needed to “raise the level of the debate” around migration and “challenge divisive political rhetoric”:
Under plans set out by Mahmood last year, foreign citizens would have to live in Britain for 15 years before they could be granted permanent settlement, up from five years at present. Migrants would be able to shorten the wait if they received a salary at a certain level or contributed to their communities, such as through voluntary work.
Opponents of the plans have criticised the impact they would have on social care workers in particular, many of whom are migrants and poorly paid.
In an interview with The Times last month, the housing secretary Angela Rayner said the plans were unfair because they would “change the goalposts” for migrants already in the UK.
Andy Burnham is also understood to be concerned about the proposals, which are expected to be watered down by the Home Office later this year.
Writing to voters in her Peckham constituency, Fahnbulleh suggested the proposed changes to the rules lacked compassion and that there should be a “much stronger focus on integration”.
In a post on her constituency website seen by The Telegraph, Fahnbulleh said her own area of southeast London was “a good example” of what can happen when “people are given the opportunity to integrate and participate”.
“Ultimately, I want to see a system based on control and compassion, with a much stronger focus on integration,” she wrote. “If we continually prolong the time people have to wait for settlement, we can also prolong the process of building cohesion.
“We need to raise the level of the debate, challenge divisive political rhetoric and make the case for communities like the one we have in Peckham. That means talking about immigration with care, control and compassion.”
Fahnbulleh, who is seen as being on the left of the Labour Party, is the latest senior figure to criticise the plans that were championed by Mahmood and the former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Fahnbulleh is not alone in her concern, more than 100 Labour MPs, as well as trade unions, have come out in opposition as well.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
A U-turn too far
The news site adds that Transport Action Network (TAN) Cymru said public transport improvements should take priority in tackling congestion around Newport, ahead of a Senedd debate tomorrow.
Labour’s motion calls on the Welsh Government to begin work on a new relief road and rule out closing junctions 25, 26 and 27. Given their record on this issue it feels like opportunism on their part:
Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates has backed an amended version of the previously proposed black route south of Newport.
TAN Cymru transport campaigner Gwynfor Edwards said: “A new motorway is the wrong answer for Newport. Building more road capacity risks generating more traffic, while the financial and environmental concerns that led to the scheme being scrapped in 2019 have not gone away.”
Mr Edwards called for the South East Wales Transport Commission’s recommendations to take priority.
“The South East Wales Transport Commission set out a better way forward, with public transport alternatives that could improve connectivity between Cardiff and Newport, including new rail stations,” he said.
“These options should be prioritised before committing to another major road scheme.”
However, the group backed Labour’s opposition to junction closures.
“Ruling out junction closures, however, is the right decision. Closing junctions would simply push traffic onto local streets,” Mr Edwards said.
“Whatever Members decide, people in Newport deserve more than another delay. They need a clear timetable, a properly funded plan and practical action to tackle congestion.”
Then first minister Mark Drakeford cancelled the relief road on cost and environmental grounds. His government subsequently established the commission, also known as the Burns Commission, to examine alternatives.
The current Plaid Cymru government has ruled out reviving the black route but announced an 18-month study into other roads-based options, after which it intends to select a preferred scheme.
Ministers say a review found that no single measure would resolve congestion and that road improvements were needed alongside other changes.
A five-year programme will include motorway maintenance, changes to traffic management, targeted road and junction improvements, and measures to encourage freight operators to use alternative routes such as the A465.
Public transport plans include accelerating delivery of Cardiff Parkway and Magor and Undy railway stations, improving access to Severn Tunnel Junction station and better bus connections between Newport and Cardiff.
I am with the environmental lobby on this issue. I am also against the closure of junctions. When they tried that in Port Talbot a decade or so ago, it caused chaos.
Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates has backed an amended version of the previously proposed black route south of Newport.
TAN Cymru transport campaigner Gwynfor Edwards said: “A new motorway is the wrong answer for Newport. Building more road capacity risks generating more traffic, while the financial and environmental concerns that led to the scheme being scrapped in 2019 have not gone away.”
Mr Edwards called for the South East Wales Transport Commission’s recommendations to take priority.
“The South East Wales Transport Commission set out a better way forward, with public transport alternatives that could improve connectivity between Cardiff and Newport, including new rail stations,” he said.
“These options should be prioritised before committing to another major road scheme.”
However, the group backed Labour’s opposition to junction closures.
“Ruling out junction closures, however, is the right decision. Closing junctions would simply push traffic onto local streets,” Mr Edwards said.
“Whatever Members decide, people in Newport deserve more than another delay. They need a clear timetable, a properly funded plan and practical action to tackle congestion.”
Then first minister Mark Drakeford cancelled the relief road on cost and environmental grounds. His government subsequently established the commission, also known as the Burns Commission, to examine alternatives.
The current Plaid Cymru government has ruled out reviving the black route but announced an 18-month study into other roads-based options, after which it intends to select a preferred scheme.
Ministers say a review found that no single measure would resolve congestion and that road improvements were needed alongside other changes.
A five-year programme will include motorway maintenance, changes to traffic management, targeted road and junction improvements, and measures to encourage freight operators to use alternative routes such as the A465.
Public transport plans include accelerating delivery of Cardiff Parkway and Magor and Undy railway stations, improving access to Severn Tunnel Junction station and better bus connections between Newport and Cardiff.
I am with the environmental lobby on this issue. I am also against the closure of junctions. When they tried that in Port Talbot a decade or so ago, it caused chaos.
Whatever road the Welsh government builds will fill up quickly as happens with virtually every other major road scheme. The only solution is to get local traffic off the M4 by providing reliable alternatives.
Monday, October 19, 2026
Green leader doubles down on Zionism is racism policy
They add that Polanski did not attend the vote, prompting accusations of a lack of leadership, but he made clear he agreed with the broad thrust of it even if he felt it was unhelpful to have what he called a “debate about semantics”:
Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg whether he thought Zionism was racist, Polanski said: “I don’t think this is actually controversial.
“What’s controversial is that 75,000 Palestinians have been murdered in the last few years, including more child amputees than ever in modern history. So when you take that to account, the fact that they’re being murdered because they’re Palestinian – that’s very obviously a racist ideology.”
He added: “I think Zionism is racism in the practical application of it. Now the conference had a debate about the motion, about the word. I said I think debates about words are unhelpful, and I still think that.”
Asked whether he believed Israel had a right to exist, Polanski, who is Jewish, said: “I don’t think any state has a right to exist under international law,” adding that the idea of a two-state solution was “for the birds” given Israel’s opposition to it.
The Green leader also insisted he had no regrets about the way he had handled the recent controversy, despite criticism from some prominent Jewish Green members, including Vivien Lichtenstein, the head of the Jewish Greens.
“I’m not sorry at all,” he said. “Vivien is someone I’ve had respect for and do have respect for, and partly co-founded the Jewish Greens together … Actually, when the Jewish Greens were surveyed about this motion, a majority supported it.”
How this will go down with the Green MPs who regretted the passing of the motion and who believe that Polanski should have been there to speak against it, will have to be seen.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Farage let off Reform staffer accused of racist slur
The paper says that secretly filmed footage showed Farage telling his director of communications, Ed Sumner, that the party’s mayor candidate for Hampshire and the Solent, Chris Parry, must apologise to David Lammy for a social media post in which he said the then-deputy prime minister should “go home to the Caribbean”. However, the apology was a compromise that fell short of what should have happened:
The footage cuts to Mr Sumner saying to Mr Farage “you’re protecting him”, before the party leader says: “It’s showing a bit of... bit of sorrow. Look, ‘I’m sorry’ is probably a good thing to hear. Just take the f***ing deal.”
In Mr Parry’s social post in January over speculation that the government could be considering talks about reparations for slavery, he wrote: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies.”
At the time, Labour described the remarks as “racist and grossly offensive”. Mr Parry later apologised “for any distress or offence” caused.
The new footage, part of a documentary by ITV Exposure to be screened on Sunday night, captured the conversation between Mr Farage and Mr Sumner following a press conference where the party leader said Mr Parry should apologise.
It showed Mr Farage saying Mr Parry “must apologise to Lammy”, before Mr Sumner tells him they had written him a text that he’s “not too happy with”.
Mr Farage said: “No, I'm sure, but he must do it and move on…Tell him that from me.”
When the Reform UK leader left, Mr Sumner said: “He's lucky, if it was up to me, I'd have kicked him out f***ing months ago.”
Mr Parry was later suspended after he appeared to liken a Jewish neighbourhood watch group to “Islamists on horseback” following an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances.
Mr Sumner told ITV News: “Nothing in the excerpts [of filming] discloses any wrongdoing, criminal activity or breaches of Reform UK policy by me… I do not endorse extremism or bigotry, or any concealment of extremism and bigotry”.
Labour has condemned the footage as “shocking and deeply disturbing”, and told Mr Farage he needs to “urgently explain why he allegedly stood by [Mr Parry]..... instead of kicking him out of his party”.
“These latest shocking and deeply disturbing revelations go right to the top of Reform UK, Nigel Farage needs to wake up and realise the buck stops with him,” Labour party chair Bridget Phillipson said.
“Time and again Farage has had every opportunity to demonstrate leadership and get Reform’s house in order and every single time he has failed.
“In Reform’s own words: they’re defending the indefensible. They are completely unfit for office.”
The paper adds that other revelations, which come a day after the same investigation secretly filmed councillors calling Muslims “parasites” and describing Black children as “animals”, include Reform MP Sarah Pochin saying senior party officials “just exclude you if you are a woman”:
Speaking at a time she was the party’s only female member of parliament, Ms Pochin said in response to being told a new female press officer was starting work: “Oh thank f*** for that. God! We so need women press officers… They are so f***ing chauvinistic.
“I go out on all the shows and go ‘Oh no, it’s lovely, oh they’re all so welcoming’. Sh**... they just exclude you if you’re a woman...
“It’s really tough being a girl with all of this alpha male sh** going on.”
A Reform UK spokesperson said Ms Pochin had raised concerns about her experience, and “those concerns were taken seriously”.
“Reform has come a long way as a party. We’ve grown enormously in a short space of time, and we’ve been working to address issues as they arise,” they said.
An undercover reporter was also told to delete their social media account if they were considering running to be a Reform UK councillor.
In a vetting interview with the chair of a local Reform branch in Chester, Ian Frost, the reporter told him he had posted on social media in support of Tommy Robinson.
Mr Frost replied: “Anything where you've got, things, Tommy Robinson or anything like that, okay, I would delete the account and I'd start again.”
This is the reality of Reform UK and why they are unfit for office.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
The pub with no name and the Swansea poet
These subterranean levels—known today as The Vault—were built in the 1600s as wine and spirits cellars. They feature parallel brick-arched rooms separated by old cast-iron columns, alongside an antique gantry crane on rails once used to hoist heavy casks of liquor.
The cellars were famously immortalized as the "Wine Vaults" in poet Dylan Thomas's short story "The Followers", during an era when the bar was a bohemian gathering spot. Today, the historic cellars operate as a large capacity space hosting live music on weekends, events, and private functions.
It was a legal requirement for each public house selling alcohol to have a recogniseable sign. However as the building was a bar and not a public house, a sign had not been allocated. This was soon rectified and the premises was officially presented with the title of “No Sign”. As for the building itself, it is listed as Grade II and was “the first site of Swansea’s Chamber of Commerce and one of the first recorded libraries in Swansea.” It has been licensed throughout its recorded history being in turn brew house, brewery, wine and spirits merchants and Public House.
The 1930s was a golden era for the City of Swansea and with musicians, writers and artists among its regular patronage, the No Sign became a significant creative bohemian hotspot. Most notably of these was the Welsh poet and beloved scoundrel Dylan Thomas. He and his creative contemporaries became known as “the Kardomah gang” and would be frequently found reveling in the image of the drunken artist. As a result the No Sign is one of the significant venues included in the cultured literary pub crawl by the Dylan Thomas Experience.
“I liked the taste of beer, its live, white lather, its brass-bright depths, the sudden world through the wet-brown walls of the glass, the tilted rush to the lips and the slow swallowing down to the lapping belly, the salt on the tongue, the foam at the corners.” ―Dylan Thomas
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