I live in UK’s most famous seaside town that ‘went downhill terribly’ | UK | Travel

Glenda Kenyon has adorned her walls with large photographs of three children, a new addition since a previous visit seven years ago. But they’re not from her own family. Instead, Glenda chuckles and explains that they are the fictional offspring of Gavin and Stacey from the previous Christmas special.

“I thought they were lovely so I kept them up,” says Glenda, 71. Her seemingly ordinary yet distinctively-cluttered home at Trinity Street in Barry, is filled with items connected to the popular sitcom, which broke viewing figures with its Christmas finale.

She’s seated on a cream leather sofa, a freebie she received in exchange for lending her home for three weeks to the cast during last year’s filming. The house also boasts net curtains, a freshly painted lounge, and a dazzling chandelier hanging over the bustling front room of the narrow terrace where she’s lived for 30 years.

Next to her on the coffee table lies a list of coaches, each carrying 30 fans, set to descend upon her home again this year. So far, 168 coaches have been booked, reports Wales Online.

She explains that due to the overwhelming number of unexpected fan visits, she had to put a pause on accepting them as it was impacting her insurance bill. So in her bay window she’s posted a sign reading: “Closed.”

“It’s all had to become more organised now,” she explains. “I still do it for free and I still love doing it. Before Gavin and Stacey my life was lonely. I had very few friends back then, but since Gavin and Stacey started and the house became famous I have met lots of really nice people who are so enthusiastic. It bounces you back up. That’s why I’ve kept doing it I suppose. People constantly tell me it’s like a bloody museum in here.”

Soon she’ll be adding to her huge collection of trinkets when her friends come from Liverpool. “I met them because of Gavin and Stacey,” she says. “They now come every year and we go down to the island and we have a nice time and I do some shopping. I have four lots of friends who come every year to see me and I’ve met them all because of the show. When my friends come next I’m going to get some more mugs from the Hyper Value shop. It’s nice and cheap there – especially when I tell them who I am.”

Jackie Rogers, 65, has been a fixture at the Hyper Value shop on the island’s seafront for four decades, now working alongside her two daughters. Her daily routine begins with a weather check to determine the day’s staffing needs.

Despite being a weekday afternoon in February half-term, Barry Island is bustling like a summer peak day, keeping her shop pleasantly busy. It’s not the mugs flying off the shelves but the sticks of rock and buckets and spades.

“It’s purely weather permitting this time of year on the island,” Jackie explains. “When the weather’s nice it’s always busy here. I was here during the days of Butlins pre-1997 when you had an audience whatever the weather. People would come whatever the weather because they’d paid for the booking. When Butlins closed there was a big decline on the island but then Gavin and Stacey came along and the island saw a rise again. It’s brought a wide range of people here – people who’d never heard of Barry Island before. They’re coming from Essex to Australia to South Africa – especially during rugby internationals and the Six Nations when they pile in.”

“I’ve been told I’ve helped put Barry on the map,” Glenda declares. “I hope that’s true. Barry is certainly heading in the right direction off the back of tourism. They’ve got new houses going up. They’ve done the island up. It’s getting busier all the time and more people are living down here now. The tourism is crazy. Before Gavin and Stacey, Barry was like a dead soul. In the nineties Barry went downhill terribly. Now it’s thriving. This month is busy. And it’s getting even busier as the weather improves. Some days I’ve got two coaches coming.”

Over at Henry Danter’s pleasure park, there’s a line forming at Kingsley Rowe’s burger van. After earning his keep touring horseracing events across the UK, Kingsley, 32, decided to station his van at Barry Island four years ago and credits Henry, stating “without him there wouldn’t be a Barry Island”.

“It’s been really busy this year so far,” Kingsley shares. “Hopefully the season is the same. I chose Barry Island because of Gavin and Stacey and because of what Henry was doing with the fairground. It has brought people to Barry in their millions. I felt it was up and coming and I still believe that. It gets better every year. Henry has some of the best rides in the UK and I knew people were coming from far and wide here.”

At the age of 81, Henry remains sprightly, travelling from his home in Symonds Yat, England, to Barry Island several times a week. This half term, he’s been at the helm of the bustling pleasure park, coordinating the arrival of new dodgems set to debut in the next couple of weeks.

Over the past decade, Henry has invested a staggering £12 million in fresh attractions and now harbours ambitions to develop an even more expansive amusement site in Barry, aspiring to be “bigger than Alton Towers”.

“Half term has been fantastic. It is going very well and Barry Island is getting stronger every year,” he enthused.

Henry’s venture into Barry began in 2015, taking over a largely dormant pleasure park. He says: “We’ve transformed the place back to the Butlins years. Every ride when we got to Barry had to be taken down and we’ve now spent more than £12 million, with new rides now coming in the next fortnight. When I step back and look at it now I do feel like we’ve done Wales proud with it. Now the challenge is expanding the offering with accommodation because all the people I talk to who come to see us want to stay for longer.”

The local authority reports that by 2023, tourism in the Vale of Glamorgan was valued at £327 million, significantly bolstering the region’s economy and providing employment for nearly 3,000 individuals. Back in 2012, the industry was worth £171 million.

Barry Island alone made a substantial contribution in 2023, generating over £21 million with 403,000 visitors gracing the seafront that year.

Some of the funds have been allocated towards rejuvenation efforts in the town, including the construction of two new high schools. The project to revamp Barry waterfront with a new watersports centre, featuring a sailing club, a marina, restaurants, and a fresh park, is underway.

Additionally, plans are in place for a new college campus at the brownfield site south of Hood Road, adjacent to the new Welsh school Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Baruc. This week, developers also received approval to start work on the old Nell’s Point toilet block, transforming it into a restaurant and bar area.

Nia Hollins, 49, who has served as the council’s head of tourism for a decade, says: “That’ll be a real game-changer for Barry Island’s night time economy.

“It’s an exciting time in Barry. More recently with the levelling up money for the marina (a £20 million investment) which has been agreed with the UK government and will change the landscape in Barry. There’s now a real demand for accommodation and we’re looking at what we can do to support the need for accommodation for visitors moving forward. The beaches are second to none in the Vale and because we’re so close to the capital we’re really able to capitalise on that city and seaside break that people are looking for.

“Indicatively you can’t overstate the impact of Gavin and Stacey on tourism here. We’ve been getting fans coming here since day dot but they’ve been coming here ever since. Their children are now coming and they’re making something of a pilgrimage to come and see all the places on their televisions. We’ve recently had lots of Japanese visitors who when they came to the UK decided to come to London and then Barry Island.

“We also recently went to Paddington station to do a pop-up Gavin and Stacey event in December and the reaction we had really highlighted not just the love people have for the TV programme but the love they have for Barry Island as well and how people look at it with affection in a way which maybe didn’t happen before.”

Andrew Fenton, 48, from Chris Davies Estate Agents, a firm that has been operating in Barry for 35 years, says it “isn’t unusual at all” for people to approach him with intentions to relocate to Barry due to its fame.

“A million per cent they do,” he elaborates. “It happens all the time. And not just Gavin and Stacey but what Henry Danter has done for Barry Island too. He’s invested a hell of a lot of money to make sure when people come here it sticks in their minds as a truly iconic place.

“It has changed the dynamic of Barry completely – as has the redevelopment which is happening at a time where the housing market is starting to get back to normal again. There has been a bit of a historically negative stigma around Barry for some reason but what we’re seeing now are younger people wanting to come and live in Barry.

“Not as much the west side of Barry, which is a bit more desirable with a more settled population, but you’ve got younger people in particular wanting to move nearer the waterfront now. Affordability is the main reason. It’s hugely more affordable than Cardiff and the schools are good. It’s essentially good value for money. What we’re now seeing too is a lot more people with properties at the waterfront in particular looking to rent them out, which we’ve not seen so much before. The mindset has changed and people are looking to invest in the place.”

The Vale of Glamorgan council cites figures from the Office for National Statistics indicating that Barry’s population surged by 20.3% between 2012 and 2022. The current estimated population stands at approximately 57,000, with an annual net increase as more individuals opt to move to Barry rather than depart.

Rightmove data also shows that the average house price in Barry during 2024 was £240,805, whereas the Vale of Glamorgan’s overall average reached £286,000.

Barry’s architectural landscape sprang from the Victorian docks, with its 19th-century housing layout originating from six distinct yet unconnected sections of the town, including Cadoxton, its eldest region. The construction of the docks bridged Barry Island and the mainland, shaping the residential designs according to the occupations of inhabitants, mainly linked with the railway and coal port.

Manual labourers resided in terraced houses, while dock pilots occupied hilltop homes designed with strategically placed rear windows providing views of maritime traffic. Garden Suburb, characterized by its white houses, was predominantly inhabited by rail workers, with paths leading directly to the railway.

Fast-forward to the late 20th century, and we find Barry’s once-thriving dockyard diminished to a semi-derelict state, its connection with the island severeda move prompted by the relocation of Geest Company’s banana imports. This isolation fostered a sense of detachment for Barry Island from the wider town.

Yet, the sentiments have shifted, according to Paul Haley, a fourth-generation “Barrian” and passionate advocate for his hometown. “Barry Island in some ways still felt like an island because it was cut off from the rest of Barry on the other side of the waterfront,” explains the 61-year-old local.

“Now with the regeneration of the waterfront Barry and Barry Island are joined up properly. With that you’ve got an influx of new people coming into Barry which don’t have that Barry baggage.”

He explains the concept of ‘Barry baggage’: “In the eighties and nineties Barry was a town feeling sorry for itself. People were laid off from the docks and then the chemical works closed too which was a big employer. Barry gradually accepted itself as in the shadow of Cardiff.”

Paul, pictured outside the Academy espresso bar at the refurbished grade II listed pumphouse once the heartbeat of Barry’s bustling dockyard, explained how the area’s fortunes have shifted.

“Now remote working has taken a far greater hold so more people are enjoying the benefits of living in Barry. Where people used to go and work and spend their money in Cardiff, they’re now doing that in Barry. The Academy is doing really well because now they’ve got a day trade much better than before.”

Paul enthusiastically described the current vibe in Barry: “Barry in my mind is a thriving community. When you get to the heart of what Barry is it really becomes clear how much the place has got going for it. You can’t underestimate things people in Barry might sometimes take for granted. We live by five beaches. Only during Covid did we start to really appreciate those things. I go to London to work often and I’ve met people who’ve never seen the sea.”

Rhian Jones, 44, who has been running Cafe No 5 on Barry’s High Street for nearly four years, operates a working cafe that focuses on training adults with learning disabilities. “It’s been quiet so far this year up here but is starting to pick up now,” Rhian shares.

“Barry Island is thriving without a doubt, but that doesn’t always translate to High Street. We’re fortunate because we’re near the Mount Rooms (Hotel) where a lot of the Gavin and Stacey tourists tend to stay and some of them pop in here before heading down to the island. Not long ago we had people here from Canada and Australia. But footfall here certainly isn’t what it used to be. Because of that you do find businesses are often closing quite soon after opening here.”

Nia adds: “We know most visitors are going down to the island and it’s about how we make sure those visitors are aware of other places in Barry which are accessible. That’s why we’ve set up the Barry Wayfinding project which is a scheme which has installed pedestrian maps and fingerposts around Barry showing people what they can find if they explore. We’re hopeful that it will direct more people to High Street and Holton Road. Barry is a little bit of a maze and we need to make it as easy and accessible as possible for people to explore the town.

“My summary is the hard yards and work that has been done in Barry is now seeing super fantastic results,” Paul enthuses. “You’ve got a seaside resort there which is years ahead of others and now visitors to Barry are served with a different product. If you go down to the island and look at the coffee shops and cafes there now you’ll find places like Whitmore and Jackson which offer more than what you might find in another resort in the UK.

“I’m so excited to see what the future holds for the town.”