The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways welcomed players, managers and volunteers from Porthmadog Football Club to its Spooner’s café last week to mark the start of another season in which the railway is sponsoring the local club.

Spooners serves cakes, confectionery, and hot and cold beverages, as well as a range of alcoholic drinks, including local cask ales and spirits.

It has a beer terrace which the Railway describes as “the perfect place to enjoy some sun with fantastic views across the bay and an opportunity to watch our railway hard at work”.

The venue is decorated with artefacts from the railway’s past.

It is named after James Spooner, who was the surveyor and civil engineer responsible for building the Ffestiniog Railway nearly two hundred years ago, in the 1830s.

A locomotive was named after him in 1872, but was scrapped in the 1930s. The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways now have a new ‘James Spooner’, which was completed and named in 2023, with RailAdvent present at the naming ceremony.

The visiting football players, coaches and volunteers ate a pre-match breakfast at Spooner’s, and then posed for the camera outside the station.

Rydym yn falch iawn o barhau i noddi y clwb ar gyfer y tymor sydd i ddod a byddwn yn gwylio cynnydd y tîm gyda diddordeb brwd!

Pob lwc am y tymor gan bawb yma yn Rheilffyrdd Ffestiniog ac Eryri.

We are very proud to continue our sponsorship of the club for the upcoming season and will be watching the progress of the team with a keen interest! 

Good luck for the season from everyone here.

The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways