Llandudno's damned to a rather peculiar fate. Forced to advertise itself as a seaside resort, because that's the reputation it's built up in the past century or so; but thanks to mishandling of sea defenses, the beach which is supposed the prime location in the town doesn't actually have much in the way of a...er...beach. (ADDENDUM - Alright - it has West Shore. Can't knock that, as it is a fairly lovely beach. But the town built up its reputation around the North Shore, and therein lies the rub.)
The apparent gap has been decorated with all the usual bits and bobs associated with seaside resorts, from donkeys to deckchairs, but it's a ludicrous and rather saddening situation when hundreds of visitors are corralled into the relatively small stretch of sand between the pier and the slipway.
Have to say I'm personally more fond of "the beach" (rock-pools; the occasional glimpse of sea-life; surfers etc) rather than "the seaside"; made up of candy-floss; the wurbling of Hammond Organs; straw hats; and screaming gulls if you ask me! In any case, the old Blackpool model no longer draws the crowds like it used to. Llandudno, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay all chased that prize, but the old adage of "it all went down hill when package holidays became cheap" still stands.
I've always tried to stress that Llandudno keeps trying to please the elderly when - forgive me for being brutally frank - that market cannot last forever. The people who came here during the 40s/50s and enjoyed summer holidays here are dwindling. And I'm terrified it'll start to resort to tackiness in a bid to keep people here.
And there's probably already been a decent bit of chatter about it on the forum, but has anyone else seen that report by the Centre for Social Justice, covering the problems faced by seaside resorts throughout the UK? Makes an example of Rhyl as having gone downhill largely because the old hotels and guest houses made GREAT multiple-occupancy housing, attracting large amounts of pensioners and people of low-income. This has a knock-on effect on the following generations and is then difficult to get out of.
The only buffer Llandudno has is its large number of still-operating hotels and guest houses,
and employers like the shops, large and small alike. Not to mention the fact that Rhyl, and to a lesser extent, Colwyn Bay, are there to "absorb" (awful word, I know!) the amount of people coming from the North-West down the coast. Once said buffer goes, that's it. Prepare for the downward spiral.
But that same report mentions how towns like Brighton and Eastbourne (or was it Bournemouth? A case of Bourne identities, eh?
) have survived by - and this is the kicker - FOCUSING ON OTHER SECTORS. Llandudno risks a death by throwing the vast part of its eggs into a big resort-shaped basket. I visited Brighton with the family a while back and it's impressive what they've done there.
I'm not suggesting we ignore the resort part of the Llandudno cake as it's obviously important, but more needs to be done to help shops; small businesses; big businesses etc. Attracting private investment form a large firm would do Llandudno no harm at all.
