For those who enjoy watching archive footage there is an extensive clip
on the British Pathe website of a piece called 'Rhyl Holiday Story' made in
1947. The reporter is shown mingling with
the crowds strolling along the Promenade attempting to collar members of the
public without much success. The film
has all the traditional trappings of the British seaside holiday: Punch and
Judy, a fortune teller, people boarding a pleasure steamer. By the time of the making of this film, Rhyl
had been a popular resort for over 100 years.
Already in the 1830s it was a fashionable watering place frequented by
the titled classes. The arrival of the
railway a few years later provided a further boost. Sadly, the resort had gone into a decline by
the 1990s, but there is a regeneration project which is attempting to reverse
this.
Nowadays Rhyl is marketed as the more vibrant half of the Rhyl and
Prestatyn duo of resorts. The
attractions on offer are very much with the family in mind, including the
SeaQuarium with its sharks, rays and conger eels, the Sun Centre indoor tropical
water park and the Drift
Park with a variety of
activities. The Rhyl Miniature Railway,
with vintage steam engines hauling passengers around the Marine Lake,
celebrated its 100th birthday in 2011. The
Pavilion Theatre hosts shows with some big names such as Nigel Kennedy and
Chris Packham. The resort used to have a
funfair called the Ocean Beach Funfair, but his has now gone and is being
replaced by the Ocean
Plaza development with
shopping, restaurants and accommodation.
For a list of events in Rhyl and Prestatyn, follow this link.
Map of the area.
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| The sea front at Rhyl - geograph.org.uk - 1571576. Photo by Eirian Evans, via Wikimedia Commons. |
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