All that went with the introduction of cheap flights and the A55 Expressway
No. It went much earlier than that. CB has always played second fiddle to Llandudno's trio. Even in the '50s, when CB was still offering holiday accommodation, the destination of choice was Llandudno. Ironic, really, since CB's beach was always superior but Llandudndo has the Ormes, the deeper waters, the entertainment, the beaches and - oh, and did I say the Ormes?
As patterns have changed, both resorts have deteriorated in terms of offering, accommodation, facilities and attractions in general, but the Ormes have meant that Llandudno's bay sweep remains unique and - although the entertainment venues were swept away, numbers dropped off, income declined and the gardens left to degenerate to an entropic shadow of their former selves, the less inherently attractive resorts died, which meant CB and Rhyl, to name but two.
Nothing short of demolition of the entire town will reconstitute CB, now. It's desperately, deplorably sad, too, because CB still has enormous potential but its fate remains inextricably tied to Llandudno's success as a tourist resort. It's market forces which have created the current situation, too; market forces that decided more money could be made by demolishing superb cinemas and building retirement flats. Market forces that allowed the trams to disappear, when trams are making come-backs across the world as instruments of tourist development. Market forces that allowed the Pavilion to deteriorate until it was destroyed by a fire. Market forces that would have Llandudno an entire enclave of retirement flats and private hospitals and no hotels or boarding houses whatsoever.
People moan about CCBC's funding of the Venue Cymru and of Theatr Cymru, yet does anyone seriously imagine, in their wildest dreams, that private developers would ever had created such facilities? I was chatting with two performers from the WNO the other day, and they're performing at TC. Opera in Llandudno. Yet it's only possible because of the funding from the Arts Council, the WAG and CCBC.
CB's only hope for survival as any sort of holiday place is if Llandudno remains even moderately successful as a holiday destination. The sort of lateral thinking that envisages a tram restoration project which might see trams reintroduced along the old routes still exists but the money will never be found. Why not? Because market forces are only interested in a quick buck and it would take a central government injection of unheard of cash to change anything in that regard.