How plans to inject the cool back into two Welsh seaside resorts could make them the new town hotspots
The beach and promenade at Barry Island seafront
During its 1950s heyday Penarth Pavilion was a magnet for young people wanting to experience rock n’ roll. With its twelve-piece house band, the pavilion became known as the place to go to dance the jive on a Saturday night and developed a reputation as hip, modern and a touch risqué.
It’s a far cry from the run-down pavilion that now stands at the end of Penarth pier, no longer the hive of activity it once was and signifying the general decline of the Penarth promenade. It’s an image that has been repeated along South Wales’s coastline, from Barry Island to Pembroke, where many seaside resorts have become shabby and outdated. However there are plans to reverse this trend, with projects in Penarth and Barry fighting to save the towns’s resorts.
The Penarth Pavilion Project was established in 2007 by Penarth Arts and Crafts Ltd (PACL), a non-profit organisation, who has taken on the building to restore it to its former glory. The project will restore the Grade II listed art-deco building, whilst modernising its interior to make the venue more environmentally sustainable and technologically updated. The refurbished pavilion will include a cinema and observatory.
Making the pavilion commercially viable is key to the project’s success. Project Director, Maggie Knight, says that it is vital that the site fits with the requirements of the modern community and not become merely a museum piece. She says, “The building was built for another age; we have to weigh up the fact that it’s a listed building which means you can’t do too much to it, but also how we can make it interesting and functional for today.”
A long time coming
Refurbishment of the pavilion, owned by the Vale of Glamorgan council, has been a long time coming but has been held back in the past by a lack of funding. John Dent, director of major projects at the Vale of Glamorgan council, says, “The problem has always been, given the huge capital costs it would take to restore a building of that sort of significance, the council has never had that money available.”
Initial funding for the project was secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund who granted PACL £1.68m towards renovation. A further £300,000 from the Welsh Assembly’s Community Facilities and Activities Programme and £100,000 from the Vale of Glamorgan council have also been obtained.
Maggie stresses the benefits that restoration of the pavilion will bring to the local seaside area, not only in providing a wealth of activities for locals but by pulling in more visitors and boosting the local economy. She says, “This is one solution for getting more people into Penarth, who might not come just to see something faded and run down but might come to see something that has an interesting programme of activities. Getting tourists in will of course regenerate the whole area eventually.”
We must modernise
Barry Island is home to a long sandy beach, a pleasure park and plethora of cafes and amusement arcades, yet a number of these attractions have become outdated. The closure of Barry Island’s Butlins’ holiday camp in 1986 also meant there was no longer a captive audience for the island’s attractions. In an attempt to turn around the fortunes of the resort, Ian Rogers, owner of Barry Island Pleasure Park, has put in a planning application to the Vale of Glamorgan council to build a leisure complex on the pleasure park site.
The park has been blighted in recent years by bad weather and competition from larger, more high-tech theme parks that has seen visitor numbers dwindle. Ian says, “The last lot of rides I bought cost £1.2m; it’s very difficult to recoup that money mainly because of the elements. Unless you get the volumes down here you don’t get the money to reinvest in the things you need to do. We’re competing against the bigger theme parks; it’s very hard, updating rides needs money.”
Keeping up with the competition
Ian is hopeful that his plans will go before the cabinet in December or January. If successful, he plans to build a leisure complex which will add restaurants and bowling alley to the site. He believes that modernising the facilities at the park will enable him to compete with other local leisure attractions that currently pull in local crowds.
Ian says that a redeveloped site will act as a honey pot for visitors, helping to boost the entire area. “Barry Island Pleasure Park is the centre of Barry Island, and what we need to do is make this a focus point and all the traders around the area will benefit,” Ian asserts. The Vale of Glamorgan council are currently producing a master plan for the redevelopment of Barry Island which they hope to complete by February 2012. The council have expressed interest in holding discussions with Ian if he achieves planning permission, to incorporate his plans into a wider vision for a regenerated Barry Island.
At the height of its popularity, Penarth pavilion earned its place in people’s affections by keeping in touch with what the community wanted and adapting accordingly. Likewise in order to prosper once more, the seaside areas of Barry and Penarth must be brought into line with the demands of a modern audience and what it is that excites them.