About seven years ago some friends of ours went around the town and Orme taking photographs of all the dirt, drug needles and litter and it seems very little has changed!
A retiree on a memory-lane trip to her native North Wales was horrified by what she found in Llandudno. Having once worked in the Conwy resort she was shocked by just how scruffy the place looked.
On her return to Hampshire, where she now lives, Penny Colegate, 68, wrote of her disgust at seeing Llandudno "swimming in litter". Cans, bottles and takeaway wrappers covered pavements and were piled up under street furniture, she said.
Not only was it unsightly and a health risk, it compromised Llandudno’s tourism offer, she claimed. “Seeing the town like this really upset me,” said Penny, who contacted North Wales Live to express her concern. "Llandudno is the premier tourist destination in North Wales and to say it was dirty is an understatement, she added. Penny spent two nights in the town’s Travelodge and was looking forward to visiting old haunts, having worked for a while at the David Ormerod Hearing Centre, now part of Boots.
It was her first trip back to North Wales since moving to Basingstoke 13 years ago in the wake of her ex-husband’s death. She said: "As soon as I stepped out of the Travelodge, I saw a side road full of litter that was tumbling towards me in the wind.
'The whole place was filthy'
"The whole place was filthy. Everywhere there were Coke cans, plastic bottles, serviettes and fast food wrappers. Cigarette butts too.
“Litter had accumulated in shop doorways and under public benches and it looked to have been there for a goodly period. I moved a glass left in the road so that it didn’t hurt anyone, and picked a glass jar from a drain and put it in a bin. Most of those responsible were visitors, I imagine, and it’s left the town looking dirty bordering on filthy.”
Llandudno is no different from most places in Britain in having litter issues. The summer tourism surge, allied to a large hospitality sector, adds to the town’s challenges. So does wind-blown litter, while numerous gulls unpick bins and scatter their contents on pavements. The North Wales Live Whatsapp community for top stories and breaking news is live now - here’s how to sign up
Tackling the menace are daily street cleaners and an army of volunteers. Friends of Mostyn Street organise regular sessions and last week its youthful off-shoot, FoMS Kidz, swept the Mostyn area with help from local staff at Asda and Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn. The U3A and other groups and individuals also litter-pick the town. Any number of volunteer beach cleans are arranged throughout the year.
It can be a thankless task. That’s the impression another visitor got when she arrived in the resort last year. “Just been to Llandudno for the first time in eight years after living there for 45 years,” she wrote online. “Felt sad at how rundown it looked. Happy to be back home in France without the litter and traffic.”
Regular visitors have similar feelings about the place. A Yorkshireman who visits annually has repeatedly posted about Llandudno’s litter. “I just don’t understand why people travel a couple of hours each way to a lovely seaside town and then spoil it,” he said.
“The cost of cleaning this mess up is funded by a council that visitors don’t pay a penny towards. And whilst tourists are good for the local economy, it’s just a shame so many don’t respect your beautiful town like we do.”
Penny, formerly from Dyserth, Denbighshire, visited North Wales for four days. Starting in Flint, she worked her way west via Holywell, St Asaph and Bodelwyddan before staying in Llandudno, which she used as a launchpad for touring Anglesey. “Most of these places had issues with littering but not on the same scale,” she said. “The situation in Llandudno was appalling.
'No excuse'
“If the council doesn’t have the money, a tourist tax would help pay for extra litter picking. Tourism is Llandudno’s lifeblood and if the town doesn’t tackle its litter problem, people will stay away. I found it so sad.”
In February a meeting was held in the town to consider ways of tackling littering. There’s a local consensus that, while visitors are mostly at fault, locals are not entirely blameless, as littering also occurs away from the main tourist areas. Still, many remember how “spotless” the resort looked during Covid lockdowns when takeaways were shut and tourists couldn’t visit.
Neither was Penny impressed by the resting place of ex-husband Peter Jones. She visited Llangystennin churchyard with her nephew from Mochdre. “It used to be immaculate, now it’s a disgrace,” she said. “Where they used to cut between graves and collect the grass, now the place is mowed like a field and the grass left behind.”
During her stay, Penny complained to the council, reminding a staff member of an adage from the facilities services sector in which she used to work. “Don’t look up at all of the resort’s lovely buildings,” she said. “Look down at the pavements because that’s where all the filth is.”
Conwy Council said there was “no excuse” for littering. A spokesperson added: “We regularly remind visitors and residents to be responsible with their litter, via our social media accounts and on-site posters. Most people dispose of their litter responsibly, and it’s disappointing that there’s a minority of people who don’t.
“Littering can have a negative impact on everyone’s enjoyment of nature, can be a danger to animals and can pollute our environment. Take all your rubbish home with you, or put it in a bin, and leave no trace of your visit. From....https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/trips-breaks/llandudno-premier-tourist-destinationto-say-29343209
Llandudno is filthy and it has been for years
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