Entertainment
Pembrokeshire’s Annwn recognised as one of world’s top restaurants
NARBETH restaurant Annwn has received the latest in a string of accolades: inclusion on the prestigious worldwide restaurant selection, La Liste.
The illustrious guide, based in Paris, uses reviews, guidebooks and chef’s recommendations to formulate a score out of 100. Annwn scored 90 which places it well up the thousand-strong list.
Annwn’s chef patron Matt Powell says he is delighted with the result.
“I was just looking through the list on Thursday morning when it came out. I wasn’t expecting to be on it at all, and then all of a sudden there we were,” he said. “It was mind blowing really.”
Annwn is an intimate space with only ten covers where each diner gets to experience the theatre of Matt cooking his dishes in an open kitchen, which are then served at the table by Matt himself, assisted by his partner Naomi.
Many of the ingredients used are foraged from Pembrokeshire’s shoreline and countryside. The menu changes throughout the seasons, reflecting the diversity of the local Welsh ecosystem and the quality of local suppliers. Local lamb, lobster, prawns and sewin all make an appearance throughout the year.
Matt is a staunch supporter of Welsh ingredients and a keen student of historic Welsh cuisine.
” My goal has always been to put Annwn on the world stage and to be recognised as a Welsh restaurant that is striving to reinvent Welsh cuisine – to look at our past and food history, to ask questions,” he says. “For me it’s all about studying these old traditions. To learn, recreate and refine.
Annwn was located at Lawrenny from September 2021 until September 2022, during which time it was named as number 14 in the Good Food Guide’s 20 Most Exciting Restaurants.
On May 12 the restaurant opened its doors in a new home in Narberth, where it has since been awarded a place in the Michelin Guide.
Matt says inclusion in La Liste is the icing on the cake.
“To make this start on such a solid base and to be named among the great chefs and restaurants in the world is just amazing,” he says.
Entertainment
Dinosaur adventure stomps into Milford Haven
A FAMILY dinosaur show 65 million years in the making is heading to Milford Haven this summer.
Dinosaur Adventure Live: Danger on T-Rex Mountain will headline the Torch Theatre on Thursday, July 30.
The interactive stage show promises storytelling, puppetry, humour and science as young audiences join a team of rangers on a mission to recover a data crystal, restore power to the island and save the dinosaurs.

Children will be encouraged to stomp, roar and swish their tails as they meet baby dinosaurs, learn “Dino-Facts” and come face-to-face with a roaring T-Rex.
Created by Mike Newman, the producer behind Exciting Science, the show is now in its fifth year and is aimed at families with children aged four and over.
The performance lasts one hour, with no interval, and there will be a meet-and-greet after the show.
Tickets are available from the Torch Theatre.
Entertainment
Haverfoodfest returns to Haverfordwest town centre today
HAVERFORDWEST town centre is expected to be busy today as Haverfoodfest 2026 returns for a full day of food, drink, music and family entertainment.
The popular food and drink festival is taking place today, Saturday, May 2, from 10:00am until 4:00pm, with free entry.
This year’s event is being promoted as “the big one”, with artisan produce, street food stalls, busker stops and live entertainment planned across the centre of town.
Organisers say high-quality food and drink stallholders from Wales will be based around Quay Street, Castle Square, the Old Bridge and Riverside, with tasters and special offers available throughout the day.
Among the stalls listed for this year’s festival are local and Welsh food producers, hot food traders, sweet treats, drinks, cheese, chocolate, vegan food, crêpes, barbecue and other artisan produce.
The event is also set to include music, choirs, buskers, free face painting and family activities, helping to bring a festival atmosphere to the county town.
Haverfoodfest has become one of Haverfordwest’s best-known town centre events, drawing visitors into local streets and supporting existing shops, cafés, pubs and businesses.
The festival website says: “Haverfoodfest is back on May 2nd 2026 with high-quality food and drink stallholders from Wales on Quay Street, Castle Square, The Old Bridge and Riverside with lots of tasters and offers of great food and drink.”
Visitors are being encouraged to head into town during the day, enjoy the stalls and entertainment, and support local traders.
More information is available at www.haverfoodfest.co.uk.
Entertainment
Festival organiser has personal link to Hollywood’s Moby Dick
Bill Hamblett’s father helped write the 1956 film script — and his childhood brought him into the orbit of Gregory Peck
THE MAN helping bring a giant lantern parade to life at Fishguard and Goodwick’s Ar Ymyl y Tir/On Land’s Edge Moby Dick-themed festival in September has a remarkable personal connection to the great white whale itself.

Bill Hamblett, director of Cardigan’s Small World Theatre, was a near-neighbour of Hollywood star Gregory Peck during his childhood in California. Even more unusually, Bill’s father, Charles Hamblett, was one of the screenwriters who helped shape John Huston’s classic 1956 film Moby Dick.
“Basically, dad was one of the guys employed to turn Herman Melville’s prose into screen dialogue,” said Bill, who has run Small World Theatre with his wife Ann since 2008.
“He’d decided to go from being a journalist and poet in the UK to trying to crack Hollywood.”
Bill remembers growing up in Santa Monica during the late 1950s and being aware of famous names passing through his family’s world — even if he didn’t fully understand their importance at the time.
“As a kid in Santa Monica I remember being dropped round at Gregory Peck’s house,” he said.
“And I’m pretty certain that John Huston’s daughter, Anjelica, came round to ours for my sister’s birthday party.
“But I’m afraid I don’t have strong memories of Gregory Peck – I wasn’t a particularly starstruck little boy!”

The experiences Charles Hamblett gained during the 1954 Moby Dick shoot off Fishguard later inspired him to write the surreal fantasy novel The Crazy Kill. In the book, Peck becomes ‘Gregory Pinch’ and Huston is reimagined as ‘John Simpson’, in a story that draws on real events but twists them into fiction.
“The Crazy Kill is essentially a pastiche of Moby Dick written in the slang of the 1950s,” Bill explained.
He added that his father’s life was filled with unusual encounters and unexpected chapters.
“You could say dad had a varied and interesting career – he used to hang out with Dylan Thomas, Brendan Behan and all those guys,” he said.
“He also dropped acid as part of the CIA’s secret experiments and later wrote an article about the experience.”
Charles Hamblett later teamed up with journalist and poet Jane Deverson to publish the influential 1964 book Generation X, exploring the emerging mod and beat youth culture.
For Bill, his father’s work remains a striking behind-the-scenes snapshot of the era — and a rare insight into how a major Hollywood production came to west Wales.
“The Crazy Kill’s insight into Huston and Peck is absolutely spot-on and a remarkable snapshot of how Hollywood came to west Wales to make a film about a whale in the middle of the ocean,” he said.
“Huston got that film completed through sheer grit, guts and tenacity and looking back it was a remarkable cinematic achievement – they lost three of those bloody model whales during the filming!”
Bill says it feels strange that, decades later, the story of Moby Dick has returned to his life through the festival.
“And, as a three-year-old child, I was on the periphery of it all,” he said.
“Now that I’m 73, Moby Dick is once again coming back into my life. I mean, you couldn’t make it up, could you?”
For more information about the Ar Ymyl y Tir/On Land’s Edge festival, visit onlandsedge.co.uk.
-
Local Government7 days agoFishguard children’s home application is a ‘legal test’, not planning merits decision
-
Community5 days agoDogs removed after welfare concerns at Milford Haven property
-
Crime7 days agoDrink-driver hit bicycle and failed to stop
-
Crime6 days agoPembrokeshire hairdresser avoids prison after pub assault
-
Crime6 days agoPembrokeshire man charged with making hundreds of indecent images of children
-
Business6 days agoHandcrafted garden furniture built to last across Pembrokeshire
-
Charity6 days agoRow erupts at Spitfire museum after Reform poster displayed at charity premises
-
Community6 days agoCancer patients targeted with parking fines outside Haverfordwest support centre









