Forte's Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlour

On the seafront at Rhos On Sea is Forte's Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlour:


Back in the 1950s, the site of the Fortes Building was just a piece of wasteland, after Pyes Promenade Garage & Coach Booking Office had departed the site for Princes' Drive in Colwyn Bay. In 1956, the Forte family opened a small shack serving hot and cold drinks and snacks on the site.

The present Fortes building, with flats above called Hadden Court, dates back to the 1960s. In those days, the restaurant was in the style of a self service diner and there was a small amusement arcade next to it called the Golden Goose (operated by the same company that owned the piers at Llandudno & Colwyn Bay that also had Golden Goose Entertainments on them).

The ground floor was reconfigured and refurbished in 1997 to form the present Fortes Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlour, together with two shop units on Penrhyn Avenue. The Golden Goose then moved around the corner into one of these shop units but did not prosper in its new location and eventually closed in about 2000. The two shops are now occupied by a carpet shop and a florist respectively.


If you're visiting Rhos, a visit to Fortes is a must. The Forte family still own it today and they are open from 9am all year round serving a wide selection of hot & cold meals and drinks. There are also over 24 ice-cream flavours to choose from. Do pop in!

What if?

What if....the A55 motorway had not been built along the seafront but the alternative route over the hills above Colwyn Bay had been used? Could Colwyn Bay have survived as a seaside resort or, at least, coped better with the downturn in its fortunes?

Or is Colwyn Bay's decline due more to the gradual loss of control over its fortunes and subsequent decline in civic pride since the scrapping of Colwyn Bay Borough Council back in 1974?

Take a look at the 'Then & Now' shot of the Pier below. How things have changed!!!!


Nearly 40 years separate these two photos of Colwyn Bay Pier.

The top one, taken in the early 1970s, shows a bustling pier with Golden Goose Entertainments (Admission Free!), Dixieland Palace Showbar with Cabaret & Dancing, The Lincoln Suite (whatever that is?) and Golden Fry Restaurant.

Today's pic shows a closed and shuttered pier. A cheap looking extension was built onto the front of the Golden Goose sometime in the 1980s, with the Golden Goose itself becoming a combined amusements/cafe/bar area. The Dixieland Showbar (later CJs) and Golden Fry Restaurant both closed in the late 1980s and the pavilion building (to the right) they were housed in is falling further into decay. Even the ornamental turrets have gone from the roof towers!