LIFE GOES ON: APR 2018

Punchinello aka Punch and Judy on Rhyl promenade, late 1800s.
On your left is the Rowley-Conwy drinking fountain
which had been erected in 1862.

A rare and rusty old tin that once contained "dainty pieces"
of  Mountain Heather Toffee made by
Convalli Confections Ltd of Rhyl.

During April 2018 the following posts were updated:

Circus at the old Pavilion / Trio Hazmas -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/pavilions-circus.html

Dolphinarium in West Parade -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/dolphinarium.html

Johnny Gizzi -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/skid-row.html

J.W. Jones / Rhyl Pavilion -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/parting-shots.html

Kinmel Park Camp, National Service -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/give-us-rink.html

Premier Inn project -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/cool-calling.html

Rhylsville the song -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/junes-choice.html

Roller skating rink -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/rolling-for-rhyl.html

Vaughan's Baths, High Street -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/in-swim-1.html

World War 2 -
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/echoes-of-world-war-2.html

New-ish in Queen Street is Chutney Lobster Indian Restaurant (renamed
from Jafflong Spice) on the former Chilli Pink premises. Pity about the
spelling mistake "Takewaway" on fascia.

Preparing to launch is Tim's Coffee Lounge at 90 High Street (with black
frontage) formerly the  premises of Soulmates Bridal Shop.
Soulmates went round the corner to 12 Kinmel Street.

These references are added here for indexing purposes:

Front Room pub restaurant Rhyl, Reeds Rains estate agents.

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COOL CALLING

Unaccustomed as I am to walking Rhyl seafront in January, curiosity about new works sent me up there today.

The weather was not warm, dear readers but, as is often the case in Rhyl, the general aspect was bright and cheerful. The photos in this post were taken by Yours Truly.

On the promenade, to your left of Pavilion Theatre there are extensive works all the way along to Garden of Remembrance. These should include a Travelodge hotel amongst other things:

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

Above: In Children's Village, aka The Village, the unit once operated by Noah Robinson as Cap'n Noah's indoor playground is being demolished. Nearby at the Tourist Information Centre business is as usual.

Below: Just to your left of the Skytower the forthcoming Waterpark is being constructed:

Opposite the Skytower the Premier Inn hotel/restaurant/pub is nearing completion:

The scene from Water Street:

Rhyl began as a resort with residential areas and became a residential town with a resort area. In the process it lost its sense of direction.

In 2018 though, we see evidence that Rhyl has clawed its way back on course and is gathering strength again.

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THU 12th APR 2018 UPDATE: Regarding the Premier Inn project, I can tell you that the 'Cookhouse and Pub' part is open for business. The address is 21-26 West Parade. Tel: (01745) 775419.

This and the rest of the Premier Inn project are owned by Whitbread PLC who also own the Costa coffee bar in High Street.

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SUN 13th MAY 2018 UPDATE: Pleased to report that the Waterpark is coming along nicely. This photograph was taken today by Yours Truly.

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WED 8th AUG 2018 UPDATE: The Waterpark seems on track to be ready for summer season 2019. Pictures of the interior indicate something like the old Sun Centre with plenty of novelty slides and refreshment areas, plus lots of extra features (I should hope so for £15 million).

In some quarters the new one is referred to as SC2 which probably means Sun Centre 2, but the name SC2 is unlikely to catch on with the public. Our combined bus & railway station site has been Rhyl Interchange since 2010; have you ever heard anybody call it by that name?

For updates on the Waterpark see stories by Kelly Williams in Daily Post:

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/take-look-inside-rhyls-new-15003763?

and
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/rhyl-water-park-sc2-new-15177358?

The opening is to be Friday 5th April 2019. Ticket prices here:
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/rhyl-sc2-centre-prices-pool-15454340?

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CARLTON CAFE

Keith Boyle has written from Queensland, Australia. Keith is grappling with family history and has raised a query about the location of Carlton Café, Rhyl (above left).

The café was at 15 Queen Street before World War 2 but the street has been renumbered at least once since then. The names Bell and Felton have been associated with the premises, and so has footballer Harry Hampton who figures in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hampton_(footballer,_born_1885)

The point is, where was the café? Keith regards the current Victory Club, 60 Queen Street, as the most likely place. My thanks to Peter Trehearn and Roger & Sue Handley for thoughts on this matter.

Now what we need is somebody to confirm absolutely that the Victory Club was indeed the Carlton Café.
Over to you, dear readers . . .  

Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Care home are big business in Rhyl, bringing money into the town and creating jobs. A 2017 report by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) found no reason to be concerned about any Rhyl homes. Only one in Denbighshire failed to pass muster and that was in Llangollen. Phew!

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QUIZ ANSWER # 195

Last Sunday I said that in the late 1950s this entertainer topped the bill at a Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion. The question: What is her name?

The answer: Jill Day.
She was Brighton-born, mainly a singer, tried her hand at acting. She was popular on TV before most of us had a TV. As a song stylist she was knocked out of the game by the advent of rock 'n' roll. She died in 1990.

The photo is from Bill Ellis who says her Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion was in 1958. This information helped me to date the following, one of my own pix in which Jill Day poster is centre left.

Wow, the roller skating rink looks busy!

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Also I said that in the early 1970s the entertainer below topped the bill at a Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion. The question: What is his name?

The answer: Jimmy Tarbuck.

Like other Liverpool comedians, JT played Rhyl more than once. The Sunday concert in question was 1971.

Below: A recent picture of yer man with his wife Pauline after they had been married for 50 years.

Daily Mirror / Getty Images

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RHYL SCORES TWICE
Daily Post has chosen 13 of the best places to get a Sunday roast in Denbighshire. Rhyl is there with Barratt's at Ty'n Rhyl, 167 Vale Road (Tel: 01745 344138) and The Bistro Restaurant, 215 Wellington Road - corner of Westbourne Avenue (01745 344333).
Click here if you wish to see the full list:
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/best-sunday-roast-lunch-denbighshire-13875288

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THU 8th FEB 2018 UPDATE: In a Daily Post list of best Chinese restaurants and takeaways in North Wales, Rhyl scores twice again with Laughing Buddha, 88-90 Rhyl Coast Road (Tel: 01745 332163) and Yeung Sing, 133 Wellington Road (01745 350773).
Also listed are one in Rhuddlan and one in Prestatyn.
The full list:

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chinese-restaurants-takeaway-north-wales-12517341

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PANTO DRAWS ON

These recent acquisitions are postcards bearing bottom right the printed signature of Rhyl photographer Rae Pickard and the date 1912. On the back they carry the following message: "BROMESQUE" REAL PHOTOGRAPH by RAE PICKARD, RHYL. PRINTED IN RHYL.

The cards bear no further details. Mr. Pickard ranged far and wide in North Wales, so there is no guarantee that this production of 'Cinderella' was actually staged in Rhyl. Nevertheless I suspect we are looking at girls from our St. Mary's Convent School in Russell Road which was up and running by then.

Kinmel Bay-based cartoonist/singer/comedian Roy Lance clocked up a few pantos in his time, such as this one:

Roy is on your right as Simple Simon with Trevor Moreton as Dame in 'Jack and the Beanstalk' 1968-69 at Swansea Grand Theatre. Jack was played by pop singer Wayne Fontana; the cast included The Harmon Brothers (later known as The Chuckle Brothers).

If I have identified the wrong production I will go and stand in the corner.

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This year at Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl, we have 'Sleeping Beauty':

Pavilion Theatre says, "The cast is headed by Vicky Entwistle, perhaps best known as Coronation Streeet’s Janice Batterby who plays the Bad Fairy Cararabosse. She is joined by Channel 5’s Milkshake presenter, Amy Thompson as Sleeping Beauty, Princess Briar Rose, and Hollyoaks’ Kathy Barnes, Sarah Jane Buckley, as the Good Fairy.

"The Queen of pantomime dames, Charles Burden, plays Nanny Glucose, and back by popular demand is Wales’ very own Sean Jones as Silly Billy who returns for his 6th consecutive pantomime at the Pavilion.

"There is a full supporting cast which includes two local talented dance schools, The Gay Harris Dancers and The North Wales School of Dance. Sleeping Beauty runs from Wednesday 13th December to Saturday 6th January, tickets are priced from just £9.50."

Website: http://www.rhylpavilion.co.uk/sleeping-beauty/

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FAWLTY CONNECTIONS

Incidentally, recent works by Denbighshire County Council at the Pavilion Theatre include the creation of a new restaurant area which has been given the name ‘1891’ because somebody thinks that’s when the Pavilion first opened. There are faults in this reasoning.

The present Pavilion Theatre which opened in 1991 could be described as a belated replacement for the famous domed Rhyl Pavilion (demolished 1974, opened 1908) but there is no connection that I know of between those two council-owned venues and the Grand Pavilion (destroyed by fire 1901, opened 1891).

The Grand Pavilion, about which I published a book in 2002, was a concert hall built at the shore end of our Victoria Pier by a private company which owned the pier at that particular time. It was not the start of a Pavilion dynasty so ‘1891’ is not an appropriate name for the restaurant.

If the link between the three disparate venues is simply the word Pavilion, then the restaurant might as well be named '1867' which was the date that the Bijou Pavilion opened halfway along the pier. Does all this matter? Well, there is already enough misinformation about Rhyl history out there without Denbighshire Council adding to it.

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MONDAY MEANDER

Rhyl town centre changes so often that a stroll round at any time of year reveals something new or new-ish. The photos in this post were taken yesterday, Monday 9th October 2017 by Yours Truly.

Above is corner of Wellington Road & High Street which not long ago was home to Boomers toys and gifts and way back in time the Mostyn Hotel. Now we have 'Golden Razor' offering haircut, shave and additional hair- removing treatments.

I was sorry to see the closure of Oldhams Bakery in Wellington Road opposite the ex-Post Office, and pleased to see the worthy replacement - Sandbank Bakery's shop in Russell Road opposite Liffy's:

Now, to your right of legendary Jay's Cafe/restaurant in Market Street is Clwyd Bakeries. My pal Jill and I liked this clean and tidy place and added it to our list of approved Rhyl snack bars:

At 11 Bodfor Street, sandwiched (sorry!) between The Bodfor pub on your left and Cash Converters on your right, is Courden's Coffee House & Bistro. Not tried yet.

The following shot was taken while standing in Sussex Street and looking through the gap between George Hotel & Baptist Church. Demolition of buildings on northeast side of Queen Street affords a dramatic view of the Skytower, at least temporarily.

On northwest side of Queen Street, in the building known for decades as Adelphi Fish Restaurant, later Shaw's Restaurant, and recently as Chilli Pink, there now stands Jafflong Spice. Restaurants of the name Jafflong are invariably Indian.

On corner of Water Street and West Parade, on the site of the demolished Honey Club, the Brewer's Fayre pub restaurant and Premier Inn hotel are at long last taking shape opposite the Skytower:

The following names are added here for indexing purposes:
Office2Home stationery, Portal Entertainment games, Grade 1 Barbers, Aquarius Market Street.

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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

Don't forget my YouTube channel featuring Rhyl videos and slideshows. The channel is named RhylTime. Click here to see RhylTime's Top Ten:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BKgZiQNRSaVpnyTl8PgEpPusmd3dl_z

Only YouTube items labelled RhylTime are mine.

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QUIZ ANSWER # 192

On Thursday 21st September 2017 I posted this 2-page spread from Rhyl's tourist guide book 1959. The advert was out-of-date by 1959.

The question: How might you have known the advert was out of date?

The answer: Alhambra Cafe (bottom right):

The Alhambra was a concert hall/dance hall and 1,100-seater restaurant built in the 1920s, long before the Ocean Beach site became a fun fair. In the early 1950s, as the fun fair was being developed, the Alhambra was divided into two units.

By 1959 when the advert was published, the part illustrated had been renamed Playland arcade/cafe, and the part to your right of it had become Ritz Ballroom. The name Alhambra had disappeared.

The image above appears in book 'Rhyl Music In The Ritz Years 1955-1968' by Yours Truly. It is from the Harry Thomas Archive.
Thanks, Harry!

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Readers report that some images have disappeared from Rhyl Life and other Google blogspot sites, leaving empty spaces.
I believe Google employs people whose job is to change things for the sake of change and fix things that ain't broke.
Perhaps the situation will right itself in due course.

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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/RhylTime
Only the videos marked RhylTime are mine!

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QUIZ ANSWER # 189

On Monday 31st July 2017, Question 1 was: What do these two buildings have in common?

The answer: They were both music shops.
At the top is the part of North Wales Women's Centre, Water Street, that used to be Price Evans Music Shop which sold sheet music, musical instruments and records. I bought my first jazz records there in the very early 1960s and recall the husband-and-wife team behind the counter and their daughter T(h)eresa, a wild child around my own age. I wonder what happened to her.
Previously the building was named Harmony House, home of the music shop Box & Co. (originally Box & Stansfield) operated by bandleader and saxophone/clarinet/guitar player Albert Williams. In the book 'Rhyl Music In The Ritz Years 1955-1968' I described Water Street as the Tin Pan Alley of Rhyl. Dance band musicians looking for gigs would hang out next door in Ellis' Bar.
These days it seems unlikely that Jobcentre Plus would accept that as looking for work.

The other picture shows Chilli Pink Express at 42 Queen Street, a food take- away & delivery service. To an older generation of Rhylites the building will always be Greaves Record Shop.

Bill Ellis says that Greaves was previously in Market Street where R.K.M. wool shop is now. Bill remembers queuing outside with guitarist Dennis Rothwell to buy ‘Apache’ by The Shadows. That would have been 1960.

[Going further back in time, ex-Musicians' Union branch secretary Morgan Borthwick remembers the Gold Charm jewellery shop in Market Street on corner of Glanglasfor as a record shop named R.G. Jones, and sheet music was sold at Alan Edwards’ sports shop on corner of High Street & Russell Road where Detour clothes shop is now. Thanks, Morgan.]

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Question 2: How are the following people connected with Rhyl?
a) Albert Cronshaw
b) Mrs. Blake and Miss Grimwood.

The answers: 

Albert Cronshaw was a well known character at Marine Lake Fun Fair. The following is from 'Rhyl At The Fun Fair' by Eric Hughes:
"In the 1930s as a visitor to Marine Lake Fun Fair I saw lightning artist Albert Cronshaw who could paint up to 100 complete pictures in one day. [Wouldn't I love to find one of those! - Ed.] 
Eric continues, "Albert Cronshaw also operated Spider and the Fly (or Spider Racing Game). This was a competitive game for a number of players: a large spider's web was depicted on a back wall, by turning a handle you sent a spider creeping towards the centre of the web where a fly was revolving. If your spider was first to stop the fly, you won a prize. It was not a straight- forward speed game, the handle was fitted with a clutch device that slipped if you turned too fast."

Mrs. Blake and Miss Grimwood were in a news story retold in 'Rhyl In The Second World War' by Yours Truly:
"In Rhyl on April 12th 1945, tragedy struck in a spare room in Brighton Road. Two middle-aged ladies, Mrs. Frances Gertrude Blake and her companion Miss Muriel Elsie Grimwood, committed suicide. They were overwrought after experiencing difficulties in finding suitable accommodation. The ladies were financially secure but said to be mentally unsound. They were found in bed facing each other with hands clasped. An inquest the following month found that Mrs. Blake and Miss Grimwood had died of poisoning caused by an overdose of sleeping pills."

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SAT 19th AUG 2017 UPDATE: Although Eric Hughes refers to Albert Cronshaw more than once by that name, the following image is captioned Photo by Cronkshaw. 

Were Albert Cronshaw and Cronkshaw the same person and, if so, which spelling would be correct I wonder.

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SUN 21st JAN 2018 UPDATE: In the book ‘Strange Requests And Comic Tales From Record Shops’ by Graham Jones (published in 2013)
a former sales rep named Martin Palmer says,“The most unusual shop I visited was Greaves Records in Rhyl. The owner maintained a shrine to Elvis in a corner at the back of the shop; yes, a proper shrine! It didn’t do much for the atmosphere of the shop, in fact they should have renamed it Graves!”

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SUN 13th MAY 2018 UPDATE: In Rhyl, homage to Elvis continues in the shape of a model outside Millie's Fish & Chips Diner, 57 Water Street near junction with Crescent Road.

What was that song? Ah yes, 'There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis' by Kirsty MacColl. All the elements of a good quiz question there!

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QUIZ QUESTION # 189

The above photos were taken yesterday in Rhyl by Yours Truly.
Question 1: What do these two buildings have in common?

Question 2: How are the following people connected with Rhyl?
a) Albert Cronshaw
b) Mrs. Blake and Miss Grimwood.

No need to send me an email - just check your answers against mine on Tuesday 8th August 2017 after 12 noon.

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Nigel Kerry, now resident in Clun, Shropshire, is hoping for a picture of the Roma Coffee Bar, West Parade, late 1950s/early '60s. 
Here is an advert for the Roma mentioning Ray Rowlands and His Band; Ray was a drummer from St. Asaph.
This is from 1958 and appears in 'Rhyl Music In The Ritz Years 1955-1968' by Yours Truly.
Click on it to read small print.

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TUE 22nd MAY 2018 UPDATE: Being auctioned on Internet this week is the following amateur snapshot of the Roma's exterior without the seller's big blue logo -

The snap is dated 1954 and shows that the design was very modern for the time, more like the '60s.

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FLASHBACK #23

Previously in this blog have been references to the Post Office that used to be in Rhyl High Street in days of yore, but no clear illustration until now. The date 1959 appears on the back of this photo:

The building has long gone. It was opposite the present Boots chemist, on a site where now we have a pair of charity shops: British Heart Foundation at No.42 and Scope at No.44.

I thought I remembered a red pillar box outside. Memory plays tricks!

To your right of the Post Office was formerly Avondale Restaurant which, by the time the photo was taken, had become combined-Avondale-Cafe-and-shop belonging to E.B. Jones & Co Ltd.

Cyclists, please take note of the two chaps in the picture. They are doing what you should be doing in town centres, i.e. walking along pushing the bikes and not riding. 

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Incidentally, the E.B. Jones company was known mainly for its chain of grocery shops in North Wales – based in Rhyl.  E.B.'s shops were much in evidence in the 1950s, having sprung up like mushrooms between the two world wars.

6720. Two additional images added here in June 2020:

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QUIZ ANSWER # 158

Last Sunday I posted the uppermost part of two commercial buildings in Rhyl, photographed a few days before by Yours Truly. In each case the question was: What is the name of the business underneath?

A:

The answer: Quality Solicitors Edward Hughes.

The office is at 29-31 Kinmel Street. Here is the photo in full:

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B:

The answer: Liffy's Cafe.
The premises are at 7 Russell Road. Here is the photo in full, taken on a Sunday afternoon to avoid scaring the customers:

  
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With correct answers to A and B to score 1 win: Jane Shuttle, The Great Gareth, Dilys Bagnall, Sue Handley.

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FUN ON THE CUSP

Above is an aerial photo dated 1949 showing Marine Lake Fun Fair in the background and the plot of land that would become Ocean Beach Fun Fair in the foreground.

In the 1930s the Ocean Beach site had been bought by Albert Barnes, Managing Director of Rhyl Amusements Ltd the company that owned the fun fair, for use as the company's coach park and for travelling circuses and exhibitions.

The late Eric Hughes, who became manger of both sites said, "We began moving rides from Marine Lake to Ocean Beach where we had to fill the new site to form a surface level with rest of West Parade.
"We also had to build a retaining wall and extend the site by building decking over the coach park at the rear.
"Marine Lake and Ocean Beach were linked by a walkway parallel to the west side of Sydenham Avenue."
[Later the walkway became known as The Walk - Ed.] 

At the bottom of the photo, on your right with slanted roofs is the Alhambra cafe and dance hall which was destined to become the Ritz Ballroom. The picture shows the fun fair on the cusp of becoming two fun fairs.

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A recent addition to this blog's book list is an A5-size booklet of fourteen arty black-and-white photos by Stephen Clarke titled 'Ocean Beach Rhyl' (published 2014) in a limited edition of 150.  

The booklet contains no text and therefore tells you nothing about Ocean Beach - not even the dates when the photos were taken. It is not that kind of book, it's more of a mood piece capturing the feel of the fair as it neared the end of its life - on the cusp of extinction you might say.

The longer I live with this little publication the more I like it. Some of the plates have an end-of-an-era sadness about them, others reflect the mad love of being thrown all over the place by machines. The following is just half of one of the pictures; the ride is The Waltzer:

Stephen if you are reading this, do get in touch to tell us about your other activities in Rhyl. 

Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk 

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These refs are added here for indexing purposes: Westbourne Avenue, gasometers, Dodgem, Cafe Royal Books, Craig Atkinson editor.

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