Everything to do with Conwy

[SteveH]

"what the hell is wrong with this place."  It does seem daft, considering the amount of visitors Conwy gets......

An old article from Jan.
Foreign tourists flocked to Wales last summer adding £150m to the economy
Foreign tourism visits to Wales pumped nearly £150m into the economy with 380,000 overseas visitors in the summer.
The latest figures show a major increase (7.5%) in the number of people coming here during the third quarter of 2014 - giving the crucial sector a major boost. This amounted to 30,000 extra visitors compared to the same period in 2013 - spending an extra £9m - according to the Office of National Statistics.
These figures take the overseas visitors figure for the whole of 2014 up to nearly 800,000 - an increase of around 100,000 on 2013.
Across the UK an estimated 10.2 million overseas visits were made in quarter 3 2014, this was an increase of 4% when compared with 9.8 million visits made during the same period in 2013.

VisitBritain set its 2015 forecast to suggest that there will be 35.1 million visits, generating visitor spending of £22.2bn - an increase of 2.5% in volume and 4.5% in value.
These spend figures would be a new record and break the £22bn barrier for the first time.
The tourism sector is worth £5bn to the Welsh economy and employs more than 8% of the workforce.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/foreign-tourists-flocked-wales-last-8458716

[llewelyn]

Good story for the local press, come on Tom !

[Ian]

A friend of mine visiting from Canada wanted to use her Visa Card

Was it a debit or credit visa card? It makes a difference, apparently, as does the issuing bank.  Scotiabank, for instance, has reciprocal arrangements with RBS so no charges are levied.  But at the root of this is the UK banking system, which probably treats the 3Ts area as a single conurbation and thus doesn't see economic sense in installing many internationally-enabled ATMs.

When travelling abroad we always check with our own bank for the location of usable cash points prior to travelling. It's a lot better than it used to be but there are still gaps in the system.

[llewelyn]

Thank you for the info, my friend walked into the NATWEST Llandudno and got cash , the bank said they were aware of the problem with Conwy. As Conwy have so many international visitors I am sure the Tourist Manager for CCBC should look into this, the last time my friend stayed she used the bank on Lancaster Square no problem.

[Michael]

   When I spend my winter in a small, dirty fishing village in an Indian state, with constant power breakdowns and definitely no water that you can drink, there are two ATMs about half a mile from each other. Often not working,
  But aoout one mile away there is one long large building which holds seven different banking firms ATMs in separate small shop sized compartments. Each one has at least two, maybe three Machines. And, of course, a heavily armed guard outside. Never any problem

[llewelyn]

More advanced than Conwy then ! I would contact our local council representatives but they dont do twitter or facebook. still in the dark ages.  might try Mike Priestly he is available though he covers junction.

[Fester]

   When I spend my winter in a small, dirty fishing village in an Indian state, with constant power breakdowns and definitely no water that you can drink,

.... until I saw the word 'fishing' I thought you had been wintering in Bradford.

[FatAndy]

A friend of mine visiting from Canada wanted to use her Visa Card the two available cash machines wouldnt take foreign cards, so off we went to the NATWEST they said they were not linked to the ATM so she would have to go to Llandudno or Colwyn Bay. I didnt believe this so rang NATWEST they said it was true so all our visitors from abroad cant get cash in Conwy, what the hell is wrong with this place.

I had a holiday job in the NatWest in Conwy during a summer back in the 1990's.  We used to do cash advances on foreign credit cards back then although it was an antiquated system compared to today.  We had to phone a number to get authorisation for the transaction and then whizz the card through one of those old machines with the paper slips.  More often than not the system worked perfectly well, although I do remember once serving an Australian couple who had to try to phone their credit card in the middle of night Aus time to find out why their transaction wasn't being authorised.  It seems odd that in the day of the internet they can no longer do something they could back in the days of steam powered computers.

p.s. Do the cash machines in the Junction not accept foreign cards - there are three at Tesco, one at Asda, one at the Co-op and one at Barclays which are all far more convenient than Llandudno or Colwyn Bay if they can be used?

[llewelyn]

Barclay's at junction could have been an option.

[Cambrian]

This prompted me to reflect on all the banks which have closed in the area in the last 40 years.  Here's a few - I am sure others will add some:

Midland, Craig y Don
Midland, Penrhyn Bay
Midland, Deganwy
Natwest, Deganwy
Natwest, Penrhyn Bay
Natwest, Craig y Don
Natwest, Glan Conwy
Barclays, Conwy
Barclays, Llandudno (moved into the Martins bank)
Natwest (ex Westminster), Llandudno
Natwest (ex District), Llandudno
Natwest (ex Westminster) Colwyn Bay
Natwest, Llandudno Junction
Midland, Mochdre

I suppose there has been a corresponding opening of what were Building Societies which to some extent has off-set the closures but only in the main centres.

[FatAndy]

This prompted me to reflect on all the banks which have closed in the area in the last 40 years.  Here's a few - I am sure others will add some:

Just do a Google search for "Tapas Bar Conwy County" and you should find a fairly comprehensive list of former banks.

[llewelyn]

Day six all cash machines empty 

[Meleri]

Please could I ask fellow members and visitors to the Three Towns Forum to sign an online petition to stop a local developer building 93 houses in an area of outstanding beauty, adjacent to the Snowdonia National Park boundary on The Sychnant Pass. This land has been identified by the LDP as outside the Conwy settlement boundary and the majority of proposed houses will lie within the Historic Lanscape Area.
This proposed site would be built over two public footpaths used by local and visiting ramblers.
If you are interesting in reading further, Grwp Preswylwyr Sychnant Residents Group have a page on Facebook and to sign the petition and comment if you wish, go to change.org Parc & Llys Sychnant Residents Group.

  for any support,

Meleri 

[Hugo]

Meleri,  if you haven't done it already please contact the Tree Preservation officer asap and get him to see if there are any trees worth preserving on the land.
Developers have a habit of destroying these trees prior to the formal application for outline permission.   

[DaveR]

It certainly would be a shame to see houses built in that area, we just can't go on building on green spaces indefinitely.