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The Weekly News and Visitors' Chronicle for Colwyn Bay Colwyn Llandrillo Conway Deganwy and Neighbourhood

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The Season 1906 in' North…

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The Season 1906 in North Wales. SOME REMARKABLE COMPARISONS. RAPID GROWTH OF COLWYN BAY AND LLANDUDNO. I do not remember such a season on the North Wales Coast during the last thirty years, writes a Correspondent in Tuesday's issue of that well conducted paper the "Liverpool Daily Post & -Mercury." Not even comparatively. If, say, in 1880, 100,000 persons visited Llandudno, and in 1890 200,000 visitors poured into the same town, one would say that, comparatively, the season 1880 was, as good, from the numerical point of view, as that of 1890, for, though the number of visitors in the latter year might be twice as large as in the former year, the town had grown so much in the intervening decade that, pro rata, the first-named season was as good as the last mentioned as far as the resi- dents who make their living out of visitors are concerned, But the season 1906 has beaten all previous records (not merely at Llandudno, but along the North Wales Coast generally), not only comparatively, but absolutely, for never during the period, I am dealing with have such enor- mous crowds of people poured into North Wales during a summer season as during the season of 1906. It is, of course, difficult, if not impossible, to state accurately the number of visitors to North Wales during the present closing season, but ,eshmates sufficient for my purpose can be, and have been, made, and the figures are very strik- ing but before stating these it may be as well to offer SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. There was a time when Rhyl was the sole place of popular resort on the North Wales Coast, with, perhaps, Abergele as a pis aller. In those palmy days Rhyl flourished like a green bay tree. It lay on the main line from Chester to Holvhead; it was within easy reach of Ches- ter—that is to say, of England;, and the "popu- lous North" sent its hordes of holiday-makers yearly to the sand dunes of Rhyl, along whose levels fashionable men and, women, in the days of the crinoline and peg-top trousers, walked eedately under umbrageous parasols and equally umbrageous hats, as far as the feminine sec- tion of visitors went. and the robust children rolled and laughed and frolickedlamongst its extensive sands, and all returned home, when their time came—the adults rejuvenated, and the youngsters glowing with increased health and vigour. But-I will not say Rhyl's day has passed—but RHYL HAS NOT MOVED WITH THE TIMES, at least not so quickly, and certainly not so well as it ought to have done, and it is now far be- hind some of its younger competitors in "up-to- dateness" (if one may coin a term), if not in popularity and there is a curiousness about the fact suggested by the last sentence which is worth dwelling upon. Residents of Llandudno and Colwyn Bay regard and speak of Rhyl as a "good! old' has-been." Doubtless some of the compassionateness of that dictum may be attri- buted to "professional jealously," so to speak. But not all of it. Residents in other places in North Wales regard and) speak of Rhyl in much the same way, and, personally, and with a kind- ly regret—for Rhyl was one of my first holiday resorts, and I remember well being there in 1859 with such an imperfect knowledge of Eng- lish that I was compelled to indi- cate to a shopkeeper there my pre- ference for one out of a number of sweets submitted to my judgment by the final phrase, "I'll take a penny one of those"-and a fairy- land it seemed to me-I myself regard Rhyl as a town that has not made the most of its ad- vantages. Yet, in spite of this, people still come from England to Rhyl, and come in thousands. This very season, I am told, the influx was so great at one time that the Town Hall had to be opened 'for the temporary (accommodation of visitors who could not find suitable lodgings. But the predominant rush of visitors is LLANDUDNO AND COLWYN BAY- WARDS, and which of these two places is the most at- tractive in every sense of the word is difficult to decide, even to me, who have lived in both towns, and. have lived in the neaT neighbour- hood for nearly thirty years. Llandudno is by many seasons the older of the two last-named places, and that fact alone has given it an immense pull over its younger rival. It has all the prestige which attaches to "an old and well-accustomed" house. People had got into the habit of going to Llandudno- a habit which still nersists. Unlike Rhyl, Llan- dudno has not attempted, to rest or to rely upon its laurels. It has been "managed" consum- mately, even before it came into existence, para- doxical as that may sound. Llandudno was planned out before a line of its present spaci- ous streets was laid, and the plan decided upon before its birth has been undeviatingly adhered to. That plan, I believe, was drawn out by a Liverpool Welshman from Bangor, in which, latter town he died some time ago. The result has been that there has been no haphazard building at Llandudno, as, for example, there has been at Colwyn Bay, to the great detriment of the latter. Besides being regularly built, Llandudno has been BUILT UPON THE MOST ADVANCED LINES of modem sanitary science. Expense has been utterly ignored when a question of sewerage dis- posal or of water supply has been under con- sideration. Besides, its "managers" have been exceptionally wide-awake and foreseeing in other minor, but still important, details. For exam- ple, no visitor goes away from Llandudno with the idea rankling in his mind'. "It's all right, you know; very nice; plenty of amusements, good bands, and all that sort of thing, but the roads are dusty and ill paved: you can't cycle or motor comfortably there, and there is very poor accommodation for cyclists and motorists." None of these things can be said of Llandudno, for in all these respects Llandudno may be marked "Ai" at Lloyd's. The result of this is that visitors come again, and recommend the place to others. Besides, Llandudno has great natural attractions, especially in. its two mighty that happened, have rested ingloriously on its fine promenade—the Great and the Little Ormes Heads. Further, situated as it is at the point of a presqu'ile, it commands splendid views of the magnificent mountainous scenery which forms a background. Electric lights, electric trams, are of course there, and, in most respects it is AN IDEALLY "MODERN" RESORT in the best sense of the word. It meets the de- mands of the most exigents, and consequently stands undoubtedly at the head of North Wales seaside resorts. Of course Llandudno has, largely, been forc- e<:1 to do all these things. Rhyl's misfortune was that for many years it had no .serious rivals. Llandudno has been more happily fortuned. Setting itself first of all, consciously or uncon- sciously, the task of "licking" Rhyl, it easily accomplished the task, and might, but for things that happene, have rested inglorious!^ on its laurels. But at a very psychological moment Colwyn Bay was discovered. Colwyn Bay had initial natural advantages superior to those of Llandudno, and per se, in a state of' nature, is a much finer site on which to build a seaside resort. With a magnificent bay of sea, far more extensive in its sweep than that of Llandudno, its land slopes up from 'the beach -to richly- wooded heights. The virgin land,

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