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. 

LIFE GOES ON: NOV 2018

Above: 1956 advert for Prince's Water Phantasy at the council-owned Open-Air Bathing Pool ('The Baths') on the prom, featuring exhibition divers, swimmers and novelty acts: Tarzan and his mate, The Famous Lambert Trio, Prince Zahoor the 'brilliant Indian balancing star', and The Water Phantasettes.
When these performers were out of the way you could go and have a dip. The location was roughly where the Events Arena is now.

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During November 2018 the following posts were updated:

Electrip Records, letter from Italy -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2015/11/quiz-answer-115.html

Grand Theatre, ‘A Little Bit Of Fluff’ -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2016/10/grand-times.html

Gronant, more old pix -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2016/05/quiz-answer-135.html

Hovercraft, another pic -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2009/02/back-to-drawing-board-2.html

J.A. Elliott-Jones, artist -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2016/02/quiz-answer-127.html

Jasper Maskelyne in Rhyl -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2009/10/cinderella-49.html

Monorail 1980 -
https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2009/03/monorail.html

Pont y Ddraig aka Dragon Bridge, Foryd -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2015/08/quiz-answer-105_23.html

Promenade ‘walking photos’, another pic -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2009/07/toms-story.html

Rhuddlan, vintage pic of High Street -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2017/10/rhuddlan-request.html

St. John’s Church, Wellington Road -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2017/11/flashback-31.html

Westcliffe Hotel, West Parade -

https://rhyl-life.blogspot.com/2009/06/western-front.html

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RECAP ON THE QUEENS

Earlier this month, Denbighshire County Council announced a £5 million redevelopment plan that targets the run-down Queens Indoor Market which has entrances in West Parade, High Street and Sussex Street.

Queens Market (established 1960) was previously Queens Ballroom which was established in 1920s. The splendid dance floor was taken up and sold at the time of conversion. Queens Theatre upstairs closed shortly after the ballroom.

Queens Theatre & Ballroom were preceded by the Grand Theatre upstairs with indoor roller skating rink below. Early film shows started at the rink and then moved upstairs to the theatre which operated off-season under the name Futurist Cinema.

Grand Theatre and the skating rink comprised a redevelopment of the Queen's Palace i.e. palace of varieties, which included theatre, ballroom, exhibitions and novelty sideshows. Queen's Palace opened in 1902, was open only in summer seasons, and closed down after a fire in 1907.

[Note for romantics: For two or three seasons Queen's Palace had in its basement a 'Little Venice' exhibition which included a gondola ride. This was taken out a couple of years before the fire and was nothing special in that day and age.]

A lot of genuine history is associated with the building and, up to 5 or 6 years ago, I would have thought it worth preserving if enough public money could be found. But since then the town centre has nose-dived and is in urgent need of something new.

At this point in its history Rhyl needs something new more than it needs something old.

Also in the proposed new scheme is Queens Market's next-door neighbour in West Parade, the Savoy Enterprises' building at Nos. 7-13. For a long time until fairly recently this was owned by the Trehearn family and operated under the name Vern's Amusements.
Readers may remember its corner of Queen Street as The Bistro night club (originally Savoy Cafe).

At present Denbighshire Council is seeking match-funding from Welsh Government for the proposed scheme and has not yet announced what it would intend to create on these sites.

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Above: I like the idea of a tobacconist named Mr. Stubbs . . . and indeed a sprinter named Mr. Bolt!

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

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LITTLE VENICE # 2

Above: a pre-planned piece of performance art by German artist Hans Winkler (born 1955).

This post is further to one a couple of weeks ago about Rhyl’s ‘Little Venice’ which, because of a video on Facebook, has managed to achieve near-legendary status.

A perusal of files belonging to the late Glyn Rees has confirmed my suspicions about this matter. Our ‘Little Venice’ was no big deal; it was a poor man’s I mean miniature version of the spectacular Venice In London exhibition in 1891-92 at London Olympia.

‘Little Venice’ was not as big a spread as some people would like to think; it did not even take up the whole of the Queen’s Palace basement – there were stalls and sideshows of various kinds down there as well.

At Queen’s Palace many different attractions came and went in summer months and the venue was closed in winter. In 1905 the complex reopened with a new look and – hey presto – ‘Little Venice' had gone, as the following press cutting from Glyn’s collection shows:

 

So 'Little Venice' was there only for two or three seasons. It had gone two years before the fire that put an end to the whole Queen’s Palace venture. 

There are indications that the owning company may have been struggling financially in the run-up to the disaster. The Secretary told shareholders the cash book and ledger were destroyed in the fire, and the company seems to have wound up without an insurance payout on the Queen's Palace. 

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THU 16th APR 2015 UPDATE: The press cutting is from Rhyl Journal dated 22nd April 1905.

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LITTLE VENICE # 1

Often I get asked about ‘Little Venice’ underneath Queens Shopping Centre aka Queens Market which has entrances in High Street, Sussex Street and West Parade.

‘Little Venice’ was a Venetian-style water ride with gondolas, in the basement of a business that used to be on the site long before, i.e. Queen’s Palace which existed only from 1902-1907.

There is no reason to believe that ‘Little Venice’ was particularly important in its own right. If it had been, I feel sure Rhyl’s first historian J.W. Jones would said a lot more about it than he did.

Water rides of a covered kind, whether underground or not, were commonplace and often described as rivers. Later there was one at Marine Lake Fun Fair, named at various times La Riviere Mysterieuse, Waterways Of Mars and River Caves.

River Caves at Marine Lake - built on terra firma!

Glyn Rees, who died earlier this year and I miss him, studied old Rhyl newspapers. He said there was no big fuss about ‘Little Venice’ in the press at the time. He added that before the end of Queens Palace, ‘Little Venice’ had disappeared from the venue's adverts and been replaced by something else.

Glyn and I shared the opinion there is too much romanticising about old Rhyl - and facts are more interesting. He is survived by daughters Lynne (now in Scotland) and Janine in Afon Wen. Bill Ellis and Yours Truly have been promised sight of his Rhyl history files.

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THE ARGENTINIAN CONNECTION

Recently, John Williams (husband of Stroma) gave up his Presidency of Rhyl Liberty Players. He has been a member of The Libs since 1963! On behalf of blog readers everywhere I send him best wishes. John wonders why the Rhyl streets Patagonia Avenue and Madryn Avenue are named after places in Argentina. Anybody know?

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MON 17th APR 2015 UPDATE: Gareth Morris writes, “Patagonia had a large population of Welsh speakers who emigrated from Wales in the 1860s. Since then there have been many exchanges in both directions including their visit in 1953 to the National Eisteddfod in Rhyl. The streets in question were built in the mid 1950s and may have been named to commemorate that visit.”

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