Rhyl


A good time in Rhyl's Sun Centre.*
A good time in Rhyl's Sun Centre.

During the Edwardian era Rhyl was the place to go for your seaside holidays. Crowded excursion trains filled the station platforms, plump guesthouse owners welcomed their guests with cheery smiles, and young men in boaters strolled the prom arm in arm with their charming companions in button-up boots and long skirts.

Times change, and Rhyl has gone downhill considerably. The train line has been reduced from four tracks to two, most of the guesthouses are full of the unemployed and homeless, and a feckless council plunges into debt tearing down everything beautiful, erecting horrible modern constructions that no one wants, and doing its best to discourage anyone who drives a car.

Still, Rhyl has one or two attractions, and the Sun Centre was probably one of the most popular. It was a huge glasshouse type structure containing two big pools. When the sea was too rough or too cold, when the sun wasn't shining and there was a cold wind blowing, this was the place to take the family.

Alas, the Sun Centre is no more, but you can join Arianne and Becky for a nostalgic swim as they romp in the pools and explore the other attractions.

A number of businessmen and women joined together to form the Rhyl Business Group and are using their influence to prod the council into action. The result is some real progress and in our final film Barry Mellor talks about some of the areas where a difference is being made.