Rhyl, North Wales in 1987 - Botanical Gardens, Town Centre, Sea Front, Beach and Promenade

Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community in Denbighshire, situated on the north east coast of Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south. Rhyl has long been a popular tourist destination for people all over Wales and North West England.

[@ElwynRoberts]

Thank you Keith Rogers for posting this beautiful reminder of how perfect and splendid Rhyl once was. We had sealions, macaws, puffins, resplendent monarch butterflies in the butterfly gardens, a perfect seafront and fun fair for ourselves and the thousands of tourists Rhyl used to bring in...Those of us who remember how Rhyl once was and not how it is today, those wonderful memories are ours and no one can take them away

[@elvisapril1962]

i have nothing but good memories of Rhyl..we would go there every year and had a great holiday..i saw the sun center being built...oh the distant 70s ...i can close my eyes...and im back there....the rhyl of today has nothing..NOTHING...on the rhyl..of my youth....rhyl...council has let us all down and should be ashamed of themselves...i love rhyl....but MY rhyl is in the past

[@pablobaneroe6486]

Absolutely spot on! I recall 76 ladybird swarms hot hot summer, yes the council there are a disgrace! Bunch of losers totally destroyed a once lovely holiday location for so many!

[@caloss2]

How I best remember Rhyl. great vid

[@kirstyburden9262]

Love your video I think your video was lovely. I have wonderful memory's of Wales in July 1987.

[@gizzli666]

Lived in Rhyl for 22 years, thanks for posting this, when Rhyl was great, it has gone down a bit now.

[@johnofypres]

I lived in Rhyl 1982 to 86 . Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting.

[@DavidWilliams-cc9nm]

1976 I remember working on the fair that's now gone could hardly walk along the prom without bumping into people it was very busy. Read an article in the sun last sunday 80 percent of people are now unemployed fairground has gone promenade empty off life what a shame Rhyl was a happy place once so sad

[@TheSHAWOFIT]

Thanks for posting this. 1987 was the last time we went on holiday to Rhyl- Great memories

[@welshlad6427]

Rhyl as I remember it ❤️

[@janec311]

Thank you for posting this. I came here in June 1987 for my honeymoon and this video brings back memories. Sadly I have been to Rhyl today and cannot believe what they have done to the place. A concrete jungle with no heart. All of the attractions now gone. So sad, nice to remember how it used to be.

[@ithewonder]

I think Denbighshire council should have a good look at this to see what they have ruined. With the Suncentre now gone 99% of this video is just memories. Disgraceful how the council now and before them have ruined Rhyl

[@avuncular300]

Yes - too true. A former chief exec of the Rhuddlan BC was caught I believe with his hand in the till, so to speak., So if the rot has got to the top, imagine what corruption abounds throughout. Best to dismiss the lot and start again with firmer controls

[@mrghostlike3000]

This is ace i was born in 86 grew up in Rhyl seen the place go down like a lead balloon sad sad times for many seaside resorts with this kind of history, would love to do a follow up to this video to what its like now.

[@Peter-cz8hx]

paid a visit first week of july 24. Was there in 88 and it looked half decent then. But now i didnt recognise the place, a lot has changed in 36 years.

[@carlgriffiths4575]

Amazing memories thanks for sharing 👍

[@johnnypocknee2842]

Great too see Rhyl it was a good place too live though you may have caught me on cam back then as i was always on the front with my dog at that time

[@ChadRichards77]

Love this mate! I wad -1 here! Ha

[@anthonywalker6505]

Great video.

[@avuncular300]

I couldn't bear to stay with this. Too many happy memories of a great little seaside resort, a lovely town to grow up in but now sadly dismembered and fatally ruined by its various councils, done, I should guess, for financial gains. Councils are notoriously apt to line the pockets of its adherents. And hope to get away with such criminal behaviour through the vagaries of public accounting. A plague on all of them. !

[@christineparker7379]

I lived n Rhyl from the early 1950's to 1959 when we emigrated to Australia. I remember the Botanic Gardens well. My father was friends with John Macartney who was the Superintendent of the gardens back then,

[@maxwellmc9734]

😁 Brilliant

[@keithsimonrogers]

Thanks for the nice comment. Glad you liked the video!!

[@jibjab351]

I was working for the Council Parks Dept in 1987. Also worked on the promenade sometimes. Amazed at how busy it was. I even spotted Peter Williams P100 Pickup parked up. No doubt spying on the lads to see if they were working

[@markfethney7086]

Rhyl had it all and they threw it all away.

[@ItsMe-zq1xs]

Why did it never rain back then? I agree with Wayne Hawkings. The council has failed Rhyl. I look at holiday makers walking up and down the bingo halls and arcades, and can imagine them saying"Mum and Dad used to rave about holidays in Rhyl, they must have been mad, there is nothing here". No fair, no Sun Centre, masses of unused space and a boring plan for the future, that will be like any town without a beach. Use your assets.

[@janeturner5506]

Do the Toast racks still run from the top of the prom?Do they still have Open Air shows at the Coliseum?Does Sidolis still sell their ice cream in a tub?Does the Odeon still run a children's Saturday Club?Are there "Baddies" in black hats and the "Goodies" in white?Are there Teddy boys rock and rolling on Saturday night.That was the way it was then.Do you remember Billie Manders?And the Out door swimming bathsThe Queens and the PavilionCinema Royal and Sports café,The Ocean Beach FunfairAll the rides all the laughs.That was the way it was then.

[@stugill4513]

great video ive alot of familay in rhuddlan so was up there 3 or 4 times a year all threw the 70 s 80 s 90s and even now i pop up once a year its unfair to blame the council if people wernt going going there and spending going 2 spain instead the council isnt going to have the cash to spend on the place , theres not 1 town left in the uk thats as busy as it was in the 80s

[@steveb60879]

Has great family holidays there in the 80s. It made me feel depressed when i last passed through there. I couldn't wait to get away from the place.

[@nickroberts990]

Just three years later the decline was well and truly in motion. By the mid nineties Rhyl was renowned for all the wrong reasons. Id say around 2013 was it's lowest ebb. Rhyl will never be as it was, but hopefully it's on the up now.

[@themelidenstar7040]

I remember Rhyl looking not to different to this in the 1990s

[@MultiSkippy100]

Sorry to disappoint the commenters below. You should all go back to Rhyl once in a while to see if it is the same as then.....Rhyl has had major investment, new hotels, a new sun centre, 2 brand new shopping centres with all the major chains, Rhyl is full of people again and the beach front has also been totally refurbished. Rhyl is more than half way back !! Incidentally, Denbighshire is voted the happiest county in Wales to live in...work that out for yourselves..to all those people below, go back and allow your minds to be changed. Okay, the fairground being removed was not the greatest trick in the book as seaside towns need amusements like that, but who knows the future may may see a new one.......nice video though and maybe the council should have a look to...just to remind themselves of the old Rhyl and its attractions.

[@welshlad6427]

MultiSkippy100 was there today and saw much of what you said. I agree with some of your points but it’s nowhere near what it used to be when I lived there in the late 80s.

[@alisonjones6401]

Unfair to criticise the council. The cause of Rhyls decline was the rise of cheap holidays abroard

[@brianhiggins3090]

Never it was the council nothing to do with holidays abroad. You only have to look at Towyn to see people still flock there!!!

[@fishtales2597]

It actually looked a place far nicer than now, they've ruined the Atmos by supposedly Modernising it

[@kevinsadler94]

The council fucked that place for sure.....

[@cynthiacooper1624]

It is now 2022. Rhyl has changed for the worst I'm afraid. Its a horrid place. Sorry just my opinion.

[@ajjy1110]

and look at it know.. absolute dump

[@avuncular300]

And now it's utter rubbish.