Pembrokeshire artist Lloyd the Graffiti has been putting his finishing touches to another masterpiece - this time paying homage to one of Wales' most famous sons - poet Dylan Thomas - at the Coach and Horses Tavern - Tenby’s oldest pub, where as legend would have it, the prodigious boozer visited and became so drunk that he left behind his manuscript of Under Milk Wood on a bar stool!
The pub located on Tenby’s cobbled Upper Frog Street was visited by Thomas in 1953 when Mr. Ceslie Stock was the landlord.
The poet called at the pub after giving a reading to Tenby and District Arts Club an excerpt from his recently completed play for voices ‘Under Milk Wood’ - and the story goes that Thomas became so inebriated, that when he finally staggered out, he left his only copy of the play’s manuscript on a seat in the bar!
While Thomas visited Tenby, his enduring connection to the town was through his friendship with painter Augustus John, who he was close to throughout his life.
John was responsible for introducing Thomas to his future wife Caitlin MacNamara in a London pub who, despite being involved with John at the time, quickly became enamoured with the poet and the pair started a passionate affair.
One of Thomas’ final performances took place in the seaside town, when he turned up fashionably late to The Salad Bowl (a venue on The Croft that is now gone but has a blue plaque in its place commemorating his momentous visit thanks to Tenby Civic Society) when he pulled off a theatrical surprise that Tenby would never forget! Despite arriving late for the performance (but surprisingly sober!) Thomas took to the stage amidst a Brahms piano recital.
With a flick of a cigarette and a hasty disdain for water, he introduced the first public reading in Wales of his masterpiece Under Milk Wood - greeted by laughter and applause.
Sadly, there would be no opportunity for an encore since Thomas passed away in New York only five short weeks later.
The Coach and Horses has long carried a tribute on the side of its premises of the distinctive poet, but now Lloyd the Graffiti who hails from Haverfordwest and whose body of work across the county is building and building - has given the drinking establishment and restaurant a fresh new colourful homage, and after finishing his creation, Lloyd signed off: “Well that’s me ready for a Guinness!”