rhyl, denbighshire, north wales
Created | Updated Jan 30, 2017
Rhyl, Denbighshire, North Wales
Rhyl is a dying seaside town on the North Wales coast (which mainly consists of dying seaside resorts).
It is in the same postal area as Llandudno, which is roughly (depending on how fast you drive) half an hour away by car.
Rhyl consists of 4 main areas:-
1 The prom (this is the bit nearest the sea), which is the area that tourists flock to. It stretches east to West with the sea (and therefor the beach) to the North of the road (which is divided into East and West parade, with the main street of the town [which is pedestrianised] marking the division between East and West Rhyl). Just above the beach itself is a footpath with cycle track marked (WARNING: cyclists don't always stick to their side of the path so you have to be ready to move out of the way). This stretches beyond Rhyl, all the way to Point of Ary to the East and at least as far as Penmae Mower to the West. Between this and the road are some entertainment facilities (listed from East to West) (some of which are worth a visit if your stranded in the town [only if in danger of going mad, if you don't do something soon]) The Sun Center/Pavilion Theater (The sun center is a swimming complex with slides and a wave pool [will keep kids quiet]), Open Air Events Arena (normally empty), The Sea Life Aquarium (gives an insight into aquatic wildlife), The Children's Village (this is why council tax is so high [and it can't possibly attract visitors] but there is a 5 screen cinema, if you like films), there is also a new skate park. The opposite side of the road also caters mainly for visitors, (East to West again) hotels and guest houses (shop around because prices can vary between them[further inland e.g. down side streets is usually cheaper]), amusement arcades and night clubs (clubs also spill down the side streets) (good area to spend any surplus money), fun fair (rides look rickety [and I wouldn't go on them] but there haven't been any accidents [to my knowledge]). Car parking in this area is difficult and crossing the road on a sunny Saturday during the tourist season is extremely difficult, if you don't use the pelican crossings. The actual beach, even though it has a blue flag, isn't that wonderful! (WARNING:If your going to build sand castles, it is best to wash your hands afterwards before eating) the sea doesn't look inviting (the white foam floating on top isn't just choppy water and is usually tinted brown).
2 The town center (including main street). During the tourist season this is very busy and hard to get around. There are all the usual shops in the center of town. There is an indoor shopping precinct and 2 indoor markets. Food is easy to find in Rhyl with a Mac Donald's right in the center of the main street.
At the bottom of the high street (the end furthest from the sea) is a bus and train station. Trains and busses are time tabled (but irregular especially after 5pm and on Sundays). A train to the next station in either direction is possible once an hour on average (some times more often) (WARNING: don't rely on public transport, if you need to get somewhere important, because sods law comes into play), buses are a bit more frequent (until a certain time in the evening) though often cost more (especially when the train conductors don't always come round to sell tickets) and are slower, hotter, cramped. There are some nice quiet pubs in the center of Rhyl, that are hidden away and no one would give anyone a funny look. The center of town isn't a good place to hang around on your own after dark or 10pm which ever comes first, because Rhyl isn't the nicest of places (there is a sort of Chave's vil feel to the place and you get a lot of drug pushers, there is infact a canabis caffi in the side streets of the town center [this addvetises on a bord outside that it sells a bit more than just canabis] but there is a drinking ban in the town center, so you tend to only see drunks affter closing time).
3 The council estates, these cover the whole of West Rhyl and a fair chunk of East. The council are continually moving more and more people to the North Wales coast from Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham's rough estates (Moss Side) and with them they bring problems. High unemployment (a lot don't seem to be interested in getting jobs, but there aren't enough jobs for those who do want them anyway), drugs abuse (Rhyl is full of drug users), vandalism (the councils put new parks up on the council estates, to keep the children entertained destroying them, so the rest of the town stays intact), car crime (under age driving, people joy riding, cars been stolen, cars burnt out on playing fields and people driving under the influence of all sorts of things) and burglars. With all these going on, it's no wonder that you can hear the police helicopter most nights hovering over the town. Rhyl also suffers, as everywhere, with people making false claims with the DSS for money.
4 There is a thin band of privately owned houses round the East edge of Rhyl. This area is getting more and more densly populated as more houses are built. Some houses in this area are also owned by the DSS. Being privately owned, this is the area that is most prone to burglaries, especially in the older houses that are less well protected (which is why the police helicopter spends most of its time in this area).
Sunny Rhyl
Rhyl has a lower quantity of rain than the surrounding area, because it is in a rain shadow created by the Snowdonia mountain range (to the South West of the town).
The rain shadow effect is created, because moist air from the Irish Sea is forced up and over the top of the mountains, at this altitude the moisture condenses and the precipitation falls as rain. This means that by the time the air reaches Rhyl, all the moisture has been removed. This only works because the prevailing winds in Britain come from the South West.
Rhyl is a dying seaside town on the North Wales coast (which mainly consists of dying seaside resorts).
It is in the same postal area as Llandudno, which is roughly (depending on how fast you drive) half an hour away by car.
Rhyl consists of 4 main areas:-
1 The prom (this is the bit nearest the sea), which is the area that tourists flock to. It stretches east to West with the sea (and therefor the beach) to the North of the road (which is divided into East and West parade, with the main street of the town [which is pedestrianised] marking the division between East and West Rhyl). Just above the beach itself is a footpath with cycle track marked (WARNING: cyclists don't always stick to their side of the path so you have to be ready to move out of the way). This stretches beyond Rhyl, all the way to Point of Ary to the East and at least as far as Penmae Mower to the West. Between this and the road are some entertainment facilities (listed from East to West) (some of which are worth a visit if your stranded in the town [only if in danger of going mad, if you don't do something soon]) The Sun Center/Pavilion Theater (The sun center is a swimming complex with slides and a wave pool [will keep kids quiet]), Open Air Events Arena (normally empty), The Sea Life Aquarium (gives an insight into aquatic wildlife), The Children's Village (this is why council tax is so high [and it can't possibly attract visitors] but there is a 5 screen cinema, if you like films), there is also a new skate park. The opposite side of the road also caters mainly for visitors, (East to West again) hotels and guest houses (shop around because prices can vary between them[further inland e.g. down side streets is usually cheaper]), amusement arcades and night clubs (clubs also spill down the side streets) (good area to spend any surplus money), fun fair (rides look rickety [and I wouldn't go on them] but there haven't been any accidents [to my knowledge]). Car parking in this area is difficult and crossing the road on a sunny Saturday during the tourist season is extremely difficult, if you don't use the pelican crossings. The actual beach, even though it has a blue flag, isn't that wonderful! (WARNING:If your going to build sand castles, it is best to wash your hands afterwards before eating) the sea doesn't look inviting (the white foam floating on top isn't just choppy water and is usually tinted brown).
2 The town center (including main street). During the tourist season this is very busy and hard to get around. There are all the usual shops in the center of town. There is an indoor shopping precinct and 2 indoor markets. Food is easy to find in Rhyl with a Mac Donald's right in the center of the main street.
At the bottom of the high street (the end furthest from the sea) is a bus and train station. Trains and busses are time tabled (but irregular especially after 5pm and on Sundays). A train to the next station in either direction is possible once an hour on average (some times more often) (WARNING: don't rely on public transport, if you need to get somewhere important, because sods law comes into play), buses are a bit more frequent (until a certain time in the evening) though often cost more (especially when the train conductors don't always come round to sell tickets) and are slower, hotter, cramped. There are some nice quiet pubs in the center of Rhyl, that are hidden away and no one would give anyone a funny look. The center of town isn't a good place to hang around on your own after dark or 10pm which ever comes first, because Rhyl isn't the nicest of places (there is a sort of Chave's vil feel to the place and you get a lot of drug pushers, there is infact a canabis caffi in the side streets of the town center [this addvetises on a bord outside that it sells a bit more than just canabis] but there is a drinking ban in the town center, so you tend to only see drunks affter closing time).
3 The council estates, these cover the whole of West Rhyl and a fair chunk of East. The council are continually moving more and more people to the North Wales coast from Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham's rough estates (Moss Side) and with them they bring problems. High unemployment (a lot don't seem to be interested in getting jobs, but there aren't enough jobs for those who do want them anyway), drugs abuse (Rhyl is full of drug users), vandalism (the councils put new parks up on the council estates, to keep the children entertained destroying them, so the rest of the town stays intact), car crime (under age driving, people joy riding, cars been stolen, cars burnt out on playing fields and people driving under the influence of all sorts of things) and burglars. With all these going on, it's no wonder that you can hear the police helicopter most nights hovering over the town. Rhyl also suffers, as everywhere, with people making false claims with the DSS for money.
4 There is a thin band of privately owned houses round the East edge of Rhyl. This area is getting more and more densly populated as more houses are built. Some houses in this area are also owned by the DSS. Being privately owned, this is the area that is most prone to burglaries, especially in the older houses that are less well protected (which is why the police helicopter spends most of its time in this area).
Sunny Rhyl
Rhyl has a lower quantity of rain than the surrounding area, because it is in a rain shadow created by the Snowdonia mountain range (to the South West of the town).
The rain shadow effect is created, because moist air from the Irish Sea is forced up and over the top of the mountains, at this altitude the moisture condenses and the precipitation falls as rain. This means that by the time the air reaches Rhyl, all the moisture has been removed. This only works because the prevailing winds in Britain come from the South West.
