Rhyl Voted Above Llandudno As Best Tourist Resort In New Telegraph Poll!

Llandudno above, the difference between Llandudno and Rhyl is that Rhyl is honest about its decline, Llandudno is still living in denial regarding Its drug and crime problems,

Llandudno violent crime volume

Number of crime incidents by month from January 2011 to June 2023.

Crime and Safety in Llandudno

Llandudno is among the top 10 most dangerous small towns in Clwyd, and is among the top 20 most dangerous overall out of Clwyd's 142 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Llandudno in 2022 was 127 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Clwyd's overall crime rate, coming in 34% higher than the Clwyd rate of 95 per 1,000 residents. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Llandudno is the 61st most dangerous small town, and the 386th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.

In July 2022, Llandudno had the worst crime rate in Clwyd for burglary, with 12 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.58 per 1,000 inhabitants. November 2022 was also a bad month for Llandudno residents, when it was Clwyd's most dangerous area for drugs, recording 9 crimes at a rate of 0.44 per 1,000 residents. Llandudno recorded 5 reports of other crime during November 2022, making its crime rate of 0.24 the worst for other crime in Clwyd that month.

The most common crimes in Llandudno are violence and sexual offences, with 1,370 offences during 2022, giving a crime rate of 66. This is 20% higher than 2021's figure of 1,146 offences and a difference of 10.83 from 2021's crime rate of 55. Llandudno's least common crime is robbery, with 5 offences recorded in 2022, a decrease of 62% from 2021's figure of 13 crimes.

https://crimerate.co.uk/clwyd/llandudno

As thousands of people flocked to Rhyl this weekend for the town's annual air show, multiple stories were published about how the resort has seemingly failed to move with the times in recent decades. Its fading fortunes have been highlighted by the Telegraph who have named it as the UK's worst seaside town.

The story ranked 20 classic seaside towns from worst to best based on the quality of their high streets, renovations and "cultural clout". With Rhyl at the bottom of the pile, it described the town as having "no past, no arts or entertainment, no fun", pointing to its cruel moniker of "Costa del Dole" as a reflection of how far its start has fallen over the past 50 years.

While other resorts have been gentrified - the article recounts how Rhyl's fortunes have seemingly faded over the last half century. Its pier was demolished in 1973, the Pavilion theatre was flattened the following year.

"Efforts to make Rhyl a desirable destination – the Sun Centre in 1980, White Rose Shopping Centre in 1984, a museum and library complex in 1986 – have failed. The Ocean Beach funfair closed in 2007. A Sky Tower ride was decommissioned. There were plans to make it a light show; it’s now a pay-and-display car park," it goes on to say.

Scoring the resort a paltry five out of a 100 - 93 points below top spot St Ives in Cornwall - the article points to how the town was once described as "Blackpool after a neutron bomb" before saying it should be seen as an example of "how not to do things".

In the past few years, Rhyl has worked hard to shake off negative perceptions. As part of the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns initiative, nearly £25m is being spent on the town centre as the resort attempts to redefine itself.

More than £65 million in investment has also been attracted for projects like the SC2 Waterpark, Pont y Ddraig bridge and harbour improvements. The Pavilion Theatre has been renovated and the contemporary 1891 Restaurant opened. Rhyl now has a Premier Inn and Travelodge.

Rhyl’s redeveloped Queen’s Market is due to be unveiled, providing a new indoor market hall and “event space”. Existing attractions, such as Marine Lake and SeaQuarium Rhyl, continue to lure visitors, while the Rhyl Air Show is one of the region’s biggest events.

The piece provoked an angry reaction from local people. Tom Matthews wrote: "Quite frankly who gives a s*** what the Torygraph or any other publication has to say about Rhyl, no it's not perfect by a long way but there's plenty of places just as bad or worse. Of course beautiful places like St Ives top the list with all the money spent in those areas."

Jess Hymus-Gant added: "What a shame. Another piece slamming Rhyl. I've lived in Austria, Germany, Spain, México and I have chosen to settle in Rhyl and raise my family here. Yes it has its problems but believe me, so does everywhere else. In Rhyl you have some really decent, down to earth people with no airs and graces. I have the best neighbours. There are plenty of working people in Rhyl. Unfortunately some extremely bad decisions by DCC are leaving a town centre empty. They seem to think only of tourism and not about the locals."

Toni Ann said: "They've totally disregarded all the improvements that have been and continue to be made, sure the town does have its down points but it also has some positive like any other town in Britain"

Here is the list of Britain’s 20 best and worst seaside towns, according to the Telegraph.

• 20. Rhyl 5/100
• 19. South Shields 11/100
• 18. Weston-Super-Mare 18/100
• 17. Blackpool 22/100
• 16. Morecambe 24/100
• 15. Cleethorpes 27/100
• 14. Southport 28/100
• 13. Torquay 33/100
• 12. Southend-on-Sea 36/100
• 11. Scarborough 39/100
• 10. Worthing 47/100
• 9. Portstewart 53/100
• 8. Tenby 57/100
• 7. Margate 69/100
• 6. Brighton 76/100
• 5. North Berwick 80/100
• 4. Lyme Regis 85/100
• 3. Whitstable 87/100
• 2. Southwold 94/100
• 1. St Ives 98/100
• From.....
• @NorthWalesLive #Llandudno @Telegraph