Did you recently get a copy of the latest (2024) The Phone Book? If you did, it’ll be the last you will receive.
The Wrecsam and North East Wales Phone Book is a shadow of its former self. The final version weighs in at 5oz. Way back before mass internet adoption, the ‘standard’ Phone Book weighed 32oz, over six times as heavy. And do you remember the time when Rhuthun/Ruthin library stocked copies of other areas’ phone books. That was in a very different age (and an era when libraries were open six days a week).
The Yellow Pages exaggerate this even more. Its final version (2018) covering a greater area than The Phone Book and also weighed 5oz. The 1999 Yellow Pages was 40oz or eight times the weight.
2024’s The Phone Book’s basic information is also deficient. Given the area is wholly in Wales, we find under ‘Government & Local Authorities’ there’s no mention of the Welsh government or Senedd but instead the UK government and the UK department for education. There’s even a number for the metropolitan police but no mention we can find in the general information for North Wales police.
We took a look through the classified directory for common services for which you might actually consult The Phone Book.
| Category | Total Listed Wrecsam & N E Wales |
Total Rhuthun | Total BT online (Rhuthun)* |
| Taxis | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Chemists | 20 | 0 | 1 |
| Solicitors | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Funeral undertakers | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Dentists | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Plumbers | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Estate agents | 1 | 0 | 3 (sic)** |
* The BT online directory will also cease after March 30th, 2024
** includes Beresford Adams, long closed
There is a long and useful section under business listings for Denbighshire county council, by department, as there has always been. No mention of Ruthin town council, though.
If you want any unusual service, these days you ask the question on Facebook. Who, then, needs The Phone Book?
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