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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PARTING SHOTS

Most of my favourite old Rhyl images are already on Rhyl Life except the following which have been lying around waiting for a context. Before the blog closes to new posts, I present these images for no better reason than
I would hate to see them left out.

In this blog there have been already a couple of references to Professor Miller / Millar who operated Rhyl's first Punch and Judy booth on the prom opposite Queens Hotel. Here is the good professor up a ladder with a ventriloquist's doll:

The Queen's Palace dome dates the image as 1902-1907. A point of interest far left is a sign for 'Queens Mews' – haven't noticed that before.

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From a 2018 Internet auction: a rare and unaffordable postcard of putting greens at Botanical Gardens, undated, certainly before WW2 -

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The family snaps below are from a 1930s album belonging to George Robert Eden of Birmingham. Our 'continental' basket chairs, the pier, deckchairs - and a sandcastle - made very good props.

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Around 1960 at Ocean Beach Fun Fair there were two Big Wheels as shown below. This image is artificially coloured; the shed-like building shown with dark green  roof is the Playland arcade/cafe, and next door with brown roof is Ritz Ballroom:

I think the Big Wheel nearest to camera arrived first and departed first; it was a 'ferris wheel' made by Eli Bridge Company of USA and operated by Billy Williams. The wheel further away looks smaller but was in fact bigger and was owned by Rhyl Amusements Ltd.

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Here is a picture of the promenade paddling pool which had been built in 1920s as the Children's Lake for nippers to splash around in, sail toy boats and get cramp if the weather wasn't warm enough.

Some years ago in newspaper archives I found a reader's letter scorning "that montrosity they are building on the prom". The year was 1908 and he was referring to Rhyl Pavilion as shown above.

[I wouldn't go along with term "monstrosity" but it has to be said that the Pavilion was highly photogenic and looked better in postcard images than in reality.]

The summer show being advertised is 'A Night At The Varieties'. That happened to be the Pavilion's final show and therefore the date is 1972. The building was demolished in 1974.

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MON 9th APR 2018 UPDATE: In his book ‘Rhyl The Town And Its People’ (1970) the author J.W. Jones says of the Pavilion, “It isn’t beautiful – I have heard it described as more the design of an engineer than an architect – but neither is it ugly. Perhaps its best description is one which I have already used, ‘striking’.

“I have seen it against a moonlit sky when it had some aesthetic appeal, but in the cold light of day one has to admit that it looks ‘heavy’, for want of a more descriptive word.”

Mr. Jones goes on to list some of the stars that appeared in concert there, including the following whose visits have not been mentioned previously in this blog:

Madame Melba (Dame Nellie Melba) -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Melba

Paderewski -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_Jan_Paderewski

Jose Collins -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Collins

Dance band leader/clarinettist Harry Roy; Forces' Sweetheart Vera Lynn and Shirley Bassey.

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FLASHBACK #28

Rhyl is an August resort; this month the town has seen plenty of visitors. Nevertheless you would be hard pressed to produce a long list of the attractions. 'Rhyl's 40 Attractions' above is from circa 1904.

- Of items relating to the short-lived Queen's Palace in West Parade, Constantinople was a large model version of the Turkish city of Istanbul. The management installed this after taking out a similar representation of Venice ('Little Venice'). 

- Bijou Pavilion was a tiny theatre on the pier for troupes such as Adeler & Sutton’s Pierrots. Later it was renamed Pier Pavilion. It is under the blue dot in the image below.

 - Phrenology is the study of size and contours of the head as an alleged indication of character and mental abilities. Phrenological Lectures were presumably by Arthur Cheetham who, if you crossed his palm with silver, would feel your bumps.

- The Doll Man would be Professor Millar (sometimes written as Miller) who operated Rhyl's first Punch and Judy booth featuring his 'talking dolls' on the prom opposite Queens Hotel - just west of High Street:

- Victoria Hall Concerts is an interesting item. I suspect Victoria Hall to be the upstairs premises in Market Street known at other times as Lyric Hall and Central Hall. My reasoning is as follows:

Here is a comparatively recent pic of the premises. Underneath the red dot is inscribed the year 1890. So the building was in existence when the list was drawn up and yet the only Hall named is Victoria.

Round the margins of the list are adverts for Sandoe's books and stationery and a plug for E.H. Williams who rented the council-owned minstrel pitch on the sands for comedy & music shows by E.H. Williams' Merrie Men.

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QUIZ ANSWER # 188

1) Last Sunday I posted the above photo. The question: Where was I standing?
The answer: St. Asaph Street.
Looking across the site on which the Grange Hotel once stood.

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2a) The question: Where in Rhyl was the Hippodrome?
The answer: On the sands.
It was a later, fancier name name for the outdoor performance area known originally as the minstrel pitch. This advert for E.H. Williams' Merrie Men, written probably in 1904, refers.
Click on it to read small print.

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2b) The question: Where in Rhyl was Constantinople?
The answer: Queen's Palace.
Constantinople was the name of a new attraction that replaced 'Little Venice' which may have lost its novelty value and/or been a franchise whose time had expired. 
A previous post refers:
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/without-paddle.html

Now, let's see. You can award yourself one win for the correct answer to Question 1, two for 2a and two for 2b, plus an extra win if you got all of them right = a total of 6 wins.

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• The Marlborough Hotel, 16 East Parade, Rhyl, has been renamed as Braga Hotel. Tel: (01745) 353036.

• Local radio station Point FM appears to have ceased trading. The Wellington Road premises no longer bears the station name.

• Here is a summery snapshot of girls named Terry and Caroline having a tug o’war with unseen forces on Rhyl promenade in 1957. Holiday-makers or locals, I wonder.

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

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GRAND TIMES

After a fire in 1907 at Queen’s Palace entertainment complex (the domed building above) the owning company dissolved having been unable to get a payout from the insurers who were unhappy about some of the circumstances.

The fire destroyed the dome and it fell to the east onto Queen's Arcade. (Some photos in circulation that purport to show the effect of the fire on Queen's Palace actually show damage to the arcade.)

Eventually the remainder of the complex began operating again under a renamed company involving some of the same directors. The ballroom part on the ground floor became a roller skating rink, and film shows (‘movies’) were introduced there. The theatre part upstairs on the first floor became renamed Grand Theatre.

Here is the front of a Grand Theatre programme from Thursday August 21st 1914, less than a month after the outbreak of WW1:

Click on it to see a clearer version.

. . . the other side . . .

Details of the play Broadway Jones are too faded to reproduce clearly. Geoffrey Saville appeared in the lead role. The producer Seymour Hicks had played lead himself in other venues including the Leeds Grand:

The Rhyl building was revamped, and re-opened in 1926. The Grand Theatre on the first floor was renamed Queen's Theatre, and the skating rink on the ground floor reverted to use for dancing under the name Queens Ballroom.

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The following local advertisers are added here for indexing purposes:
Goldstraw, Wedgwood House, Dunning, Rhyl Journal, Garson Allen, Hubbards, Knutsford House, Madame Le Vere, Marlborough Hotel, Queens Hotel, F Thomas cycles, Ben Glass, Arcade Bazaar, E Robins, Foulkes Bar, Sussex Cafe, York House, Leinster House, Ferry Hotel Kinmel Bay, Hazel Grove House, Ferns apartments, Ivy House, Truscott.
X L Seed Co, Arnolds, Chester House, Geo J Mason, Hodges Chatsworth Cafe, Twillrane, Wadsworths, SPQR Stores, Philip Thomas, Avondale Restaurant, Marine Lake Fun Fair, Charlton boarding, Fells Bazaar, White Lion Hotel, Archie Wood.
Robins, J H Ellis, Owens butchers, Griffiths baker, E Beech, H Wilcock, Ernest R Clarke, Star Supply Stores, C H J E Lamb, J A Smalley.

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FRI 3rd FEB 2017 UPDATE: Here is a rare photograph captioned Grand Theatre, Staff, Rhyl Oct,1912.

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TUE 14th NOV 2017 UPDATE: Grand Theatre's canopy is just about visible on your left (after the signs 'Garage' and 'Hotel') on the following card postmarked 1918.

Note the muck-sweeper on your right. His was a very honourable chore; horse emissions were more useful and less harmful than car emissions!

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

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THU 23rd AUG 2018 UPDATE: Grand Theatre's canopy is seen more clearly in this earlier pic of a Lifeboat Day, shall we say 1915?
On your right, the advert for Arthur Hart & Leslie Moreton's company in 'The Arcadians' refers to a show at the Grand, a touring version of an Edwardian musical comedy that had played for three years at Shaftesbury Theatre in London 1909-1912.

The lifeboat is Rhyl's tubular-style Caroline Richardson II which was on station 1897-1939.

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MON 6th NOV 2018 UPDATE: Fans of style will dig the following advertising card for a touring version of  'A Little Bit Of Fluff' at Grand Theatre, Rhyl -

The card is undated but there is a clue on the reverse - 

'A Little Bit Of Fluff' ran at Criterion Theatre, London, from 1915 to 1918 and remained famous for decades. You can find information about it in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Bit_of_Fluff_(play)

The following names are added here for indexing purposes:
Herbert Jay promoter, Anthony Ellis promoter, Walter W. Ellis playwright.

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TUE 25th DEC 2018 UPDATE: Grand Theatre on your left again in this World War 1 image of Denbighshire Hussars with their horses -

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6720, Additional image added in July 2020:

This is the battered front cover of a Grand Theatre souvenir programme from 1913, quite valuable because The Grand is the link in between the original Queen's Palace and later Queens Theatre & Ballroom.
All these venues were in the same building.

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SKATERS' WALTZ

Here are some roller skating pix that have not appeared previously in this blog. The first , an amateur photo of possibly a family group, was taken at the Queen's Skating Rink on the former Queen's Palace Ballroom in West Parade:

In the background a poster refers to Rhyl Town Band (skating to a live band would have been thrilling and there was space enough for seats to accommodate listeners). The poster also refers to Pictures at 3 & 7; these were movie shows and probably the roots of the Futurist Cinema that operated in the building later.

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

Below is another shot from the Queen's, an un-named roller hockey team. Neither of these Queen's photos is dated but if we were to say they were 1910-1920 period we wouldn't be far out.

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The open air roller skating rink that opened in late 1940s on the prom, more or less opposite Water Street, has been featured here but not the following images

In the foreground of the first is an enclosure that looks like a place where you could do a Charlie Chaplin and run the risk only of knocking down another Charlie Chaplin:

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This sepia view taken from the east side of the skating rink shows the rink's position vis-à-vis the old Pavilion - right alongside:

The white construction on your left bearing the words ROLLER SKATING pre-dated the rink. It was a curved bandstand in art deco style -  and it replaced a more elaborate Victorian job that had stood a few yards away. The changeover seems to have taken place at the end of the 1930s:

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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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SEAFRONT WEST

The western side of the seafront, loved by generations of children, has been well featured in this blog. You would find many of its attractions categorised under labels on your left near the top of this page.

Here are a few more images, starting with the relatively uncluttered way it looked in 1960s from the junction of - probably - River Street.

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Earlier, in 1940s this was the scene near Queen Street. Robins is now Harker's Corner Cafe - and on opposite corner was Savoy Café:

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

Above: the ornamental fountain in 1930s. The fountain had been opened in 1892 with a big splash of publicity but the water had been turned off by the time this picture was taken.
The fountain was scrapped during WW2 (1939-45) to provide metal for the war effort.

Below: a picture showing the cycling and tricyling opposite the Queens is always welcome, even a badly-coloured one: 

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Here are a couple of contrasting shots of the bandstand to the east of Rhyl Pavilion, in the area that became eventually a roller skating rink. The first must have been taken during or just before WW2:

The lower picture above shows the original bandstand on the same part of the prom. In the background there is work in progress on repairing the Queen's Palace and Arcade across the road.

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Who could resist this striking pic of Punch and Judy opposite West Parade instead of what became the customary position east of High Street? It is Rhyl's first P&C man, Professor Millar and his talking dolls, on a card postmarked 1905:

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SUN 14th FEB 2016 UPDATE: Here is an additional image of the cycling park (aka cycling track) in Pier Gardens (aka Queens Gardens!) on a card postmarked 1930:

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FRI 20th JUL 2018 UPDATE: And here is the same place before cycles and tricycles arrived. The postmark is indistinct, might be 1916.

Neither Pier Gardens nor Queens Gardens this time but Promenade Gardens. Same location, three names . . .

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HELLO FROM HERE

Below are two postcards sent from Rhyl during the Edwardian era. Both are postmarked 1907.

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

 

These references are noted here for indexing purposes: Clark Strichley, Price Ancoats.

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

See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RhylTime

Only the videos marked RhylTime are mine! 

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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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QUIZ ANSWER # 76

Last Wednesday I posted this picture of Queens Hotel, West Parade, and posed the question:
What would be the nearest date: 1900, 1905, 1910 or 1915?

The answer: 1900
This is because from 1902-1907 the Queen’s Arcade (the shopping arcade part of the ill-fated Queen Palace development) would be on your right-hand side of the hotel instead of Connah's.
The fuzzy old pic below, which has the hotel far left, illustrates the point.

After the Queen’s Palace fire of 1907, the row of buildings was quite swiftly repaired and restored to height (without the dome) and there was no intermediate period during which a single-storey Connah’s could have been created.

Seems odd to think that Connah's could be hiring out motor cars as early as 1900, but local historian the late J.W. Jones (Joe Swan) noted that Rhyl had its first motor car in 1898.

The winners: Dave Rowlands who has chalked up his 4th win in a very short time, and Jane Shuttle who now has 19 wins and is only one step behind the leader The Great Gareth.

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