Monday 10 January 2011

Investment

Under Repair, originally uploaded by davidrobertsphotography.

Good to see some money being spent on repairing Llandudno's Pier - it has become noticeably shabbier in recent years. I've always thought that the owners, Six Piers Ltd, made a large mistake in treating it the same way as their Blackpool piers - Llandudno is a far classier resort and the attractions on the Pier should reflect that.

Try a visit to the Oceans Cafe at the end of the pier and you will find a tatty looking cafe that serves appalling sludge described as Nescafe coffee in paper cups. Who on earth would want to come back and have another one? The Pierhead bar has all the character of a Bus Shelter. Large sections of the pier railings and kiosks appear to be half decorated - why start the job of painting them and then leave it halfway through? Why have the Bar and Cafe open...but not have any Toilet facilities for their customers at the Pierhead? Management's sole focus is on cutting costs, there is no interest in investing for the future, in terms of new attractions etc.

Fact is...Six Piers are slowly killing the Goose that laid the Golden Egg...and Llandudno as a whole will lose out in the end. The Pier should be the town's premier attraction, instead of some third rate catering facilities and a collection of kiosks selling tat.

EDIT: I now see on Oscar's blog that Six Piers Ltd are proposing to increase the rents on the Pier kiosks by as much as 100%. At a time when economic problems are mounting, this surely must be the final straw for small businesses operating from the pier?

Isn't it time we brought Llandudno Pier back into local ownership, instead of the dead hand of Chorley based Six Piers Ltd? With some investment and imagination, it could become one of North Wales' top visitor attractions once again. Who's willing to step forward and put their money up?

2 comments:

Chris said...

You're right - it's a great amenity and on a good day there are hundreds of people strolling along the pier - all free of charge.


It's a mystery why the owners don't collect 50p or so at busy times - even an honesty box. Much better than screwing the kiosk concessionees ( or driving them away).

Better for us all to pay for something to be maintained than to have it disappear because it was losing money.

Yorkie said...

QUOTE: "a collection of kiosks selling tat"

Don't let Fester see that!!

%0 pence per person to go on the pier is not unreasonable and would bring in a few thousand over the year. Although the cost of collecting could negate the revenue gained!

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