Great British Summer

Here comes the rain...again, a photo by davidrobertsphotography on Flickr.

Torrential rain all day long in Llandudno today. Not been the greatest of weekends for the town's traders but, being fair, we're had plenty of decent weather up until now.

Photo was taken Sunday lunchtime, barely a soul on the Pier or Promenade, in spite of the Triathlon taking place.

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?

High Tide - Llandudno

31st March saw one of the biggest high tides for a while at Llandudno as, backed by a strong Northerly wind, the Promenade and Pier were both pounded by massive waves for several hours. Fortunately, no properties were flooded or damaged but several hundred tons of shingle were deposited on the Promenade and the Pier suffered slight damage to a handrail.

I braved the extremely cold gale force conditions to grab a few pics:

Spray from the waves breaks over the Cable Car Station (Photo Credit)


Side entrance to Llandudno Pier gets a battering (Photo Credit)


Waves were hitting the underside of the Pier (Photo Credit)

Looking across to the Pier and Great Orme (Photo Credit)


Excavator heads for higher ground! (Photo Credit)


Pier Toll house gets overwhelmed by the waves (Photo Credit)


Aftermath - several hundred tons of pebbles on the Prom! (Photo Credit)

Stormy Day In Llandudno

High winds, a high tide and squally showers in Llandudno this morning, so what better activity than a 'bracing' walk down the Pier? At least the cafe at the end was open, so a chance to thaw out and have a steaming cup of what was allegedly coffee was warmly welcomed.

Llandudno Bay from the Pier (Photo Credit)

Waves crash against the Pier Tollhouse (Photo Credit)

An optimistic Kiosk owner is open for business (Photo Credit)

Landing Stage at the end of the Pier (Photo Credit)