Some good points yes, but others are being simply missed.
Dave, we are talking not talking about a gap in the market, we are talking about large groups of people who for cultural or religious reasons don't eat what we eat, and therefore bring their own food.
They are perfectly entitled to do that but on many occasions they creat a lot of mess (and are prone to feed the seagulls because they don't know better)
That mess has to be cleaned up, and it's paid for by local business rates..... but the businesses are taking the revenue from them in the first place, do you see the problem?
I would estimate that this group now make up circa 20% of the visitors to Llandudno. That's an average, because it's a higher proportion at weekends.
Then, we move on to the group who CAN'T spend, quite simply because they don't have enough disposable income to do so. A few coppers in the arcade, a butty from Poundland and that's it.
During the six week school holidays this group is massive in number, and growing each year.
That takes me to Ian's point. Why is everything so expensive?
The margins on food and drink are in excess of 80% generally anyway, but in Llandudno the rents seem to push that figure ever higher.
When I travel to Manchester or Leeds, many of the bars and cafes are doing half price offers on food, on certain days... or 2 for 1 cocktails, that kind of thing. But never Llandudno.
The pier has greatly upgraded its offer of rides and amusement machines, but those rides and machines are now much more expensive. Bouncy castle for example, has gone from £2 for all day, to £3 for 5 minutes. Ice cream has increased approximately 30%
It's leading to an ever increasing feeling of being ripped off, not the pier, Llandudno as a whole and this is certainly borne out when you read Trip Advisor reviews.