World War Two (1939-45) delayed Rhyl’s downfall. At the end of the 1930s our boarding houses were starting to lose customers to the new alternative: caravanning. Then suddenly, because of the war, the boarding houses filled up with servicemen and civil servants who were billeted here from places at high risk, and even evacuees and prisoners of war were accommodated for short periods.The government paid the bills and so Rhyl had a good war. A couple of bombs fell in Ernest Street area, possibly by accident, otherwise the resort was left unscathed. The photo above shows a 1945 ‘victory party’ in Gronant Street - a typical street party at the end of the war. It was supplied by Mr Leslie Slee for my book ‘Rhyl In The Second World War’ (2003) which is now out of print.
Residents were glad to see an end to the conflict; they were tired of hearing about deaths and casualties, and tired of rationing and having to do without. Some of the business people though, may have felt just a little tinge of regret that the war was over. No one knew what would happen next.
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TUE 6TH JUL 2010 UPDATE: Liz Espley has sent the following snap of Grange Road & District Victory Party, Monday 20th August 1945, outside The Grange Saloon fish & chips shop. Note the piano on the left. Photo by British Camera Craft, 7 Bodfor Street, Rhyl.
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