Author Topic: Llandudno Pier  (Read 395584 times)

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Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #465 on: July 09, 2013, 04:58:17 pm »
Work is now well underway on the Landing Stage repairs:

Offline Fester

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #466 on: July 10, 2013, 12:35:11 am »
We went to the pier last night for a post work/school stroll and we were absolutely astonished that on a hot, sunny evening in July, with loads of people milling about, the only place open along the entire length of the pier was the amusement arcade at the entrance.  There wasn't one kiosk open, nowhere to buy an ice cream or a drink.....just nothing.  I overhead quite a few people commenting on this, mostly tourists wondering why no one seemed to want to relieve them of their spending money.  I know the school holidays haven't started yet but surely 8th July must fall within the tourist season, even in Llandudno  ???.  On the other hand it seemed most of the pubs and bars at the top end of town were happily cashing in, there were crowds stood outside the Queen Vic, probably refugees from the wasteland that was the pier.

Yeah, thats the sort of 'complaint' I hear regularly, as I am always the last shop to be open.  But it is misguided.
But I think you summed it up Andy when you said, you went for 'a stroll'

After 4pm even, there is no money spent whatsover in any of the kiosks, although we sit til around 6pm in forlorn hope.
The Pier is a promenading pier, a nice place to go for a walk, it is not a shopping centre.
I think you will find that The Victoria Centre is a shopping centre, but strangely that too closes at 4.30pm.... why do you think that might be?   The answer... insufficient trade.

When I hear someone say to me... 'why are all these shops closed?'  I answer in one of three ways.
1, Because no one wants to buy anything.
2, Because they obviously have more sense than I have.
3, They are not all closed... I am open, what would you like to buy??    The answer is inevitably... NOTHING.

Andy, I urge you to take a shop on the pier.  During year one, you will open all the hours Gods sends in order to take advantage of this so called 'evening trade'.
By year two, you will be gone by 5pm as the boredom is soul destroying.



Fester...
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #467 on: July 10, 2013, 09:20:19 am »
Were the Bar, Cafe and Ice Cream kiosks all closed too? That's madness on a warm July evening....  &shake&

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #468 on: July 10, 2013, 09:30:14 am »
DaveR, the pier entertainment being advertised in the windows of the amusement arcade at the end of the pier is still showing 2012.  :o


Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #469 on: July 10, 2013, 09:43:09 am »
DaveR, the pier entertainment being advertised in the windows of the amusement arcade at the end of the pier is still showing 2012.  :o
Oh dear.  :( Speaking of entertainment at the end of the Pier, I always wish that we could have a wider range. The River City Jazzmen are great, but they seem to be there all the time. How about a classical music quartet or similar, I'm sure they'd go down very well with the older visitors?

Offline norman08

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #470 on: July 10, 2013, 09:59:19 am »
 i agree with fester in a way ,i worked on the pier early 70s it WAS very busy in them days the kiosks were open till 9 0r 10 BUT people spent then as fester says folk stroll on there now ,we walked along last night 6 30 ish  bar/cafe could have been open at the end [not the same as a kiosk] but best of all why are the toilets locked has the money stopped off the council .oh yes we used to fix the pier in the winters ,as for the i o m boats they stopped because fuel got too dear .

Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #471 on: July 10, 2013, 10:14:51 am »
When I ran the arcade at the end of the pier in the early 90s, we'd be staying open until 10pm at least in July/August, with the main arcade at the pier entrance open until 11pm.

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #472 on: July 10, 2013, 10:22:38 am »
  but best of all why are the toilets locked has the money stopped off the council .

No, they still get money from the council.

In fact, they get two lots – one for the toilets at the end of the pier and another for the toilets inside the Golden Goose.

I am not convinced the council intended those pots of money to be granted to places like the pier and the Victoria Centre but more like establishments in Llandudno where toilets are normally restricted to the use by customers only.

Offline FatAndy

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #473 on: July 10, 2013, 10:45:06 am »
Yeah, thats the sort of 'complaint' I hear regularly, as I am always the last shop to be open.  But it is misguided.
But I think you summed it up Andy when you said, you went for 'a stroll'

After 4pm even, there is no money spent whatsover in any of the kiosks, although we sit til around 6pm in forlorn hope.
The Pier is a promenading pier, a nice place to go for a walk, it is not a shopping centre.
I think you will find that The Victoria Centre is a shopping centre, but strangely that too closes at 4.30pm.... why do you think that might be?   The answer... insufficient trade.

When I hear someone say to me... 'why are all these shops closed?'  I answer in one of three ways.
1, Because no one wants to buy anything.
2, Because they obviously have more sense than I have.
3, They are not all closed... I am open, what would you like to buy??    The answer is inevitably... NOTHING.

Andy, I urge you to take a shop on the pier.  During year one, you will open all the hours Gods sends in order to take advantage of this so called 'evening trade'.
By year two, you will be gone by 5pm as the boredom is soul destroying.

I'm not suggesting every single kiosk should have been open but there was absolutely nothing at all happening.  The ice cream kiosk at the pier entrance looked like it had just closed (must have been about six o'clock), the kiosk selling Cornish ice cream looked like it had just closed but otherwise everywhere was completely deserted.  Given the weather and the number of people knocking about I'd have thought it would have been viable to keep the ice cream kiosk, the cafe and the deck arcade open at the very least, if only to avoid making the place look like it belonged in a ghost town.  I doubt any of the visitors there the other night will be rushing back anytime soon.

p.s. Perhaps in fairness I should point out that the toilets at the far end were open  $good$.
"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."

Emo Philips

Offline FatAndy

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #474 on: July 10, 2013, 10:51:26 am »
When I ran the arcade at the end of the pier in the early 90s, we'd be staying open until 10pm at least in July/August, with the main arcade at the pier entrance open until 11pm.

I did a tour of duty on the pier back in the 80's, including two summers in the deck arcade, and those were pretty much the opening hours then.  I worked a five and a half day week, a full day being 9am until 11pm unless there was an "empty" in the morning in which case it was an 8am start.  Those were the days! 

For the accuracy of the record though I'd like to point out that back then the Golden Goose always closed at 10:50pm, just in time for last orders at the Queen Vic (back in the bad old days when pubs had to close at 11pm). 
"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."

Emo Philips

Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #475 on: July 10, 2013, 10:58:16 am »
I did a tour of duty on the pier back in the 80's, including two summers in the deck arcade, and those were pretty much the opening hours then.  I worked a five and a half day week, a full day being 9am until 11pm unless there was an "empty" in the morning in which case it was an 8am start.  Those were the days! 

For the accuracy of the record though I'd like to point out that back then the Golden Goose always closed at 10:50pm, just in time for last orders at the Queen Vic (back in the bad old days when pubs had to close at 11pm).
We moved to doing empties at 7am at some point in the 90s, was not impressed!  Finish at 11pm, by the time you'd got home, eaten etc, it was gone midnight, then a few hours sleep before starting at 9am and working through to 11pm again &shake&

Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #476 on: July 10, 2013, 05:40:19 pm »
The bottom levels of the Landing Stage are being sandblasted to remove 40 years worth of gunk today. Work is also progressing on renewing the gangway
« Last Edit: July 15, 2013, 08:25:28 pm by DaveR »

Offline DaveR

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #477 on: July 10, 2013, 05:58:34 pm »
The renovated cast iron railings arrived today, to be fitted this week into the newly made shoulders.
It is going to look great in a matter of days.  :) :)

Offline Fester

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #478 on: July 11, 2013, 12:27:45 am »
That red crane, it reminds me of something.

Oh yes!, it is the spider that dominates my house!  :o
Fester...
- Semper in Excretum, Sole Profundum Variat -

Offline Ian

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Re: Llandudno Pier
« Reply #479 on: July 11, 2013, 07:15:31 am »
Spiders and bats have free rein around our place;  in summer they keep the midge, wasp and blowfly problem under control.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.