No 15 - Nailsea and District Local History Society

on the bus before all the other pupils got on at the QueensHead. (In those days of course Nailsea Grammar attracted pupilsfrom a large surrounding area including Clevedon, Portishead,Long Ashton, Backwell and Yatton with most arriving on coachesbut some had season tickets for the ordinary bus).It was at the Royal Oak Bus stop that the smell of Nailsea cameinto its own - the stench of rotten apples from Coates CiderWorks. We would stand there gazing down the road towardsWraxall watching for the bus to make its way along the bendyroad, breathing in this all pervading stink of rotten apples.Now I’d been brought up visiting a grandmother who lived inBurton-on-Trent, and was used to the smell of brewing as weapproached on the train - Mum would open the train windowand you could soon tell you were approaching by the pong!Nailsea was very similar - you could tell by the smell that therewas a cider works somewhere in the area. You’d have thoughtthat the pong would have been blown away from the villagecentre, with the factory being on the east side of the village, butno, it made its presence smelt all the same.Having moved away for 20 years, I now miss the “aroma” - itdoes seem that something is missing. Nowadays Nailsea smellsthe same as many other towns - with traffic fumes thepredominant one. It doesn’t have the same character as Nailseaof old!