Hobbs Point Pier was built in a government sponsored scheme with the intention of developing the Packet Service from the Haven to Southern Ireland. Mail Coaches arrived on a daily basis at the Royal, a Coaching Inn close to Hobbs Point, having made the lengthy journey from London via Gloucester. Sarah Williams, landlady of The Royal, became Pembroke Dock’s Postmistress. Drivers and horses had to be changed frequently en route, and it is reported that drivers from Pembroke Dock were apt only to go as far as St Clears before handing over to another driver and returning home on the next incoming coach. The instinct to stick close to home seems to have survived in some residents to the present day, when you will not infrequently hear the older members of the population railing at going “over the bridge”.

Hobbs Point with the modern Cleddau Bridge in the Background.