Colwyn Bay
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Situated on the North Wales coast in between Rhyl and Llandudno, Colwyn Bay is a seaside town living out the rest of it's days in poverty. Gone are the halcyon days of family tourism, the open air swimming pool, the fairground and the wonderful 50's cinema. Colwyn Bay now seems to be home to the same people who holidayed here in the 1950's, living out the rest of their lives listening to the sound of seagulls.
One important remnant of Colwyn Bay's glorious past can still to be seen - the pier. Unfortunately it is now decaying away into the Irish Sea. Times change and so has Colwyn Bay, no longer a haven for tourists and day trips but for drug peddlars and teenage mothers. Colwyn Bay's decline can be attributed to the construction of the A55 expressway through the town in the mid 1980's. The A55 gave better access to travellers but became a huge eyesore and noise pollutant. This event was the catalyst to the events that followed. The very things that made the Bay what it was were being torn down and replaced in the name of progress. A Safeway replaced the fairground, an old people's home replaced the cinema and a squash court replaced the swimming pool.
Advice: Avoid unless passing through or on business
15 years ago, Colwyn Bay was a nice place to visit. Now it is the shell of a town, now populated by Liverpudlians and Mancunians who moved here to recapture the dream of their idylic youth but to no avail. Police sirens wail every night and the sounds of drunken men stumbling home can be heard on a nightly basis.
If you stand on the seafront on a clear night, avoiding the fishermen; you can just about hear the laughter of children playing on the beach from a by-gone era. The ghosts still linger unlike the tourists of today.
One important remnant of Colwyn Bay's glorious past can still to be seen - the pier. Unfortunately it is now decaying away into the Irish Sea. Times change and so has Colwyn Bay, no longer a haven for tourists and day trips but for drug peddlars and teenage mothers. Colwyn Bay's decline can be attributed to the construction of the A55 expressway through the town in the mid 1980's. The A55 gave better access to travellers but became a huge eyesore and noise pollutant. This event was the catalyst to the events that followed. The very things that made the Bay what it was were being torn down and replaced in the name of progress. A Safeway replaced the fairground, an old people's home replaced the cinema and a squash court replaced the swimming pool.
Advice: Avoid unless passing through or on business
15 years ago, Colwyn Bay was a nice place to visit. Now it is the shell of a town, now populated by Liverpudlians and Mancunians who moved here to recapture the dream of their idylic youth but to no avail. Police sirens wail every night and the sounds of drunken men stumbling home can be heard on a nightly basis.
If you stand on the seafront on a clear night, avoiding the fishermen; you can just about hear the laughter of children playing on the beach from a by-gone era. The ghosts still linger unlike the tourists of today.
