The quayside at Conwy is the natural gathering place of the town — a short stretch of waterfront where fishing boats tie up, restaurants and cafes face the estuary, and the castle provides a dramatic backdrop to almost every view. It is small, but it works.
The quay has been the commercial heart of Conwy since the medieval period, when the town's merchants loaded wool and hides onto ships bound for Bristol and Chester. Today the trade is mostly mussels: Conwy is one of the few places in Wales with a significant mussel fishery, and the flat-bottomed boats you see working the estuary are harvesting the beds that have supplied the town for centuries. Several of the quayside restaurants make direct use of the local catch. The Smallest House in Britain sits at the far end of the quay, unmissable in red.