ADDENDUM re: LITTLE VENICE

In 2021, demolition of the Queens site revealed no sign of Little Venice and I am not surprised.

   After this Rhyl Life blog closed, my own studies showed that Little Venice had been an exhibition in the basement of Queen’s Palace. The photos in circulation are of the models. The whole of Venice took up only half of the basement floor – there were funfair-style stalls and sideshows down there as well. There was nothing at a lower level such as an ‘underground river’.

   It was based on a huge event going on at Olympia in London at the time (“Venice in London”). Rhyl’s version was here for two or three summer seasons and then replaced by a similar exhibition of Constantinople (Istanbul). In summary, I would say that our Little Venice was not very big, not wildly popular, not here for long, and not important.