Naval town, waterfront story
Pembroke Dock
A planned 19th-century town where Martello towers, dockyard remains and flying-boat history meet the Milford Haven waterway.
- Best for
- Dockyard history and waterfront walking
- Give it
- A museum visit, a waterfront walk and a pub stop
- Don't miss
- The Heritage Centre and the published waterfront circuit
The Fox verdict
A naval town whose history still faces the water
Come for the dockyard, flying-boat and Millennium Falcon story; stay for waterfront walking and riverside food.
Pembroke Dock is a planned 19th-century town whose waterfront still carries the story of the Royal Navy dockyard, Martello towers and RAF flying boats. Pair the Heritage Centre with the waterfront walk and one of the riverside pubs.
Where to go
Places in Pembroke Dock
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesChurch of St John the Evangelist
A Grade II listed church built in 1846–48 in grey squared limestone, notable for drawing on local Pembrokeshire models.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Bush Street
The Shipwright Inn
A traditional waterfront pub and restaurant with estuary views, hearty home-cooked food and outdoor seating.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Front Street
Pembroke Dock Waterfront Walk / South West Wales Connected
A 3.9-mile circuit from the station via Front Street, the dockyard wall, both gun towers, coast and woodland.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 120 minutes
- Locality
- from Pembroke Dock station via Front Street
Food & drink
1 placeThe Ferry Inn
A traditional riverside pub specialising in seafood, with vintage nautical decor and a terrace over the river.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- along the river
Things to do
1 placePembroke Dock Heritage Centre
An all-weather family attraction covering Pembroke Dock's maritime history, RAF Sunderlands and the Millennium Falcon.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- in the old Garrison Chapel
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Three ways to explore Pembroke Dock
Signature outings
Sunderlands and the Falcon
Explore the town's maritime past, RAF Sunderland story and Millennium Falcon connection inside the old Garrison Chapel.
Gun towers and coastal views
Follow the published 3.9-mile circuit from Pembroke Dock station via Front Street, the two dockyard gun towers, the coast and woodland.
Seafood and Felinfoel ales
Take a riverside terrace seat at The Ferry Inn for seafood, homemade dishes and Felinfoel ales.
The town story
Pembroke Dock: from warships to flying boats
A planned waterfront town shaped by a Royal Navy dockyard, a flying-boat base and the people and pubs gathered around them.
Gun towers and a planned town
Two squat stone gun towers sit on the waterfront at Pembroke Dock, one on Front Street and the other beside Fort Road. Built of limestone ashlar between 1848 and 1851, they were meant to defend a Royal Navy dockyard. Their armament was removed in 1881. The dockyard is gone, and the towers now watch an estuary that mostly carries the twice-daily ferry to Rosslare.
This is a planned town, laid out on a grid of wide streets after the Navy arrived in 1814, lined with Georgian and Victorian stone terraces. One of them, the Terrace, was built for dockyard officers. Together they give Pembroke Dock a coherent historic character rarely matched in other Welsh towns.
Two pubs by the water
The pubs cluster near the water. The Shipwright Inn is a traditional waterside pub and restaurant on Front Street, with estuary views, outdoor seating and hearty home-cooked food near the ferry terminal.
The Ferry Inn, along the river, leans into the nautical theme and specialises in seafood, with a terrace over the water. The menu runs to Sunday roasts, steaks, hand-cut chips, and southern-fried-chicken-and-bacon dirty fries, which is a lot of adjectives for one plate of chips. They pour Felinfoel ales.
Waterfront walking
The walking is waterfront. South West Wales Connected's 3.9-mile Pembroke Dock route begins at the railway station, follows Front Street past the north east gun tower and continues along the dockyard wall.
The route then passes the south west gun tower near the coast before turning through woodland and returning through the town centre.
From dockyard to flying boats and Falcon
The town did not exist before the dockyard. This was farmland called Paterchurch, and there is no Domesday entry because there was nothing here to survey. Over 112 years the yard launched 263 warships and five royal yachts, then closed in 1926 despite a petition to the Prime Minister. The RAF took over for flying boats; by 1943 it was the largest operational flying-boat base in the world.
Later, in 1979, someone built the full-scale Millennium Falcon here for The Empire Strikes Back, in secret, on a site that had already been a dockyard, a garrison and an air base. The Heritage Centre in the old Garrison Chapel brings the Sunderlands and the Falcon story together.
Stay around Pembrokeshire
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre — visitwales.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Church of St John the Evangelist — coflein.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- The Shipwright Inn — camra.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Ferry Inn — camra.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Pembroke Dock Waterfront Walk / South West Wales Connected — southwestwales.co operator, sector body or destination organisation