If you’ve never been to Rhyl - the infamous north of Wales seaside town then you’ve probably at least heard of it, or more than likely heard bad things about it. Once a thriving hotspot for visitors from far and wide, sunny Rhyl was a favourite day trip and holiday destination for decades.
I remember going as a youngster in the 70s and 80s to full beaches, one-person trampolines, donkey rides, bikes to hire, plenty to do and fond memories being made. Am i just looking back through rose-tinted glasses?
The decline now commonplace in many of our towns seems to have set-in long before the rest of them so what set the wheels in motion?
We’ve all heard the saying “opinions are like a%$&holes, everyone’s got one” - well this is true about Rhyl, people blame the council, the shutting of the Ocean Beach fun fair, travel abroad, the general decline of the town's buildings and appearance. Some blame the people of the town themselves or rather those who ended up there due to being shipped out by their council, housing association or governmental department.
Many like Colin Charlnley manager of the Tŷ Fry Inn in Bodelwyddan which incidentally translates roughly as upper house Inn says that he lives in Rhyl and “lots of the problems stem from years of it being used as a rehabilitation town as it took in ex-prisoners and problem families from other counties. Another issue is the shops or lack of. Trade wise its got to a state where the shops are basically empty, recently a shop owner took a picture of the street midday and it was dead compared to this time last year. I don’t know what the solution is but it seems everyone bypasses the town.”
I've heard the phrase ‘Rhyl is a dumping ground’ over and over. The thing is, if this is true then isn’t it the fact that the rehabilitation of these people has failed and we need to look at this as a broader social issue rather than just in Rhyl?
Let’s look at some of the other perceived causes, The Council - Denbighshire County Council. DCC has thrown money at the area with an aim of fixing its downturn in footfall. These projects haven’t always worked: The Sky Tower that looms large over the front opened in 1989 and closed in 2010. It’s now just a tall metal object pointing to the heavens. The Sun Centre, once Europe's first indoor wave pool and known to every child in the county and to most visitors was closed by DCC in 2014. A replacement called SC2 was built in 2019 and has that been closed for most of this year for various reasons including storm damage.
The latest is the sea defence scheme that began in October 23 and expected to take another 12 months. This has seen constant disruption and no access to various parts of the beach and there are many critics of the scheme costing almost £70M. According to DCC more than 500 homes are at risk of flooding without this intervention. the town will surely reap the benefits of this grand scheme in the long run, won’t it?
The problem with Rhyl is partly ingrained in us, it’s in the mindset. We in the area are expected to think negatively about it because things tend to go wrong. Last year the ever growing and expanding Zipwire group which takes over disused quarries and transforms them into massively profitable fun zones planned to open an attraction on the seafront. This successful organisation has paying customers zooming over pools on wires or bouncing around on underground trampolines and has full booking schedules. They transformed the former Tower Colliery mining site in the South of Wales into an adrenaline zone. Surely their attraction in Rhyl would be a world beater, would entertain and bring in the crowds?
The Zipworld Skyflyer a zeppelin-type balloon was meant to take passengers 400 feet in the air in a 3 minute ride. Set to launch July 21 2022 it failed to take off, literally. following a rip and several failed attempts the £2.5m project was abandoned.
So you get my drift why people may feel deflated? (Pun absolutely intended.) The thing is I love going to Rhyl, Its got old charm, character and the sea. For research purposes and because it was tea-time i decided to head off to see the sea and instead of heading straight to the front I rode along the back streets and towards the Foryd bridge known locally as the blue bridge, which links the town to Kinmael Bay. Sadly as most visitors don’t venture this far they don’t get to see it. Built in the 1930s by Dorman Long and Company of Middlesbrough, it was important as it could open and allow ships to travel up river towards Rhuddlan.
Anyway I’ve digressed...on my way to the west side of town I passed a sign that proclaimed “Rhyl’s No1 Chip Shop” was imminent, a believer in fate I followed the sign and decided to put the claim to the test. I asked the fryer of ‘The Hungry Tum’ if the claim was true - and I’m not quite sure I caught his response or the look of incredulity quite right, but I took it as he thinks it certainly is. £8.60 for a fish supper and a tin of pop is a bargain these days. This isn’t a food review column and I haven’t tried enough of the others to really compare but I’ll just say I fought the seagulls off and I’ll be going back there. Also up this side of town is the Marina and a steel figure of Mike Peters front man of 80/90s rock band the Alarm.
On the way back I rode back to Bodelwyddan to see the contrast in fortunes between there and Rhyl. It has a beautiful castle which is now a Warner Hotel bursting to the seams with people, it's restaurant was full and an example of how to make something work, something perhaps our council can learn from?
I mentioned The Alarm earlier, once known for making songs decrying the state of our steel towns and empty harbours - they wrote a protest song about the loss of Rhyl Pavilion Theatre which closed in 1974 to make way for a car park. ‘Pavilion Steps’ was a B side and the lyric “Never again will i stand on the pavilion steps” repeats to fade-out with the sound of the waves rolling over it, haunting and emotional. No, no we’ll never stand on those steps again, but we can visit the new pavilion, we will soon be able to walk all the way down the new seafront. What’s better for our mental health than getting out there and just enjoying things for what they are whilst listening to the sea?
For all the towns bad ventures, madcap ideas and burst balloons there is always fish and chips.
Images: Adam Phillips
