Snow hits business in Colwyn Bay

Dec 30 2010

BUSINESSES across the Colwyn Bay area suffered massive losses due to the snow and ice which blighted pre-Christmas trade and pub and restaurant parties.

Several inches of snow led to some businesses reporting losses of between 50-80% of their Christmas trade- traditionally their busiest period of the year.

Other businesses admitted things were quieter than usual but were hopeful the warmer weather coupled with the New Year could repair some of the damage.

Joe Lim is the manager of the Semaphore Restaurant in Llysfaen and said business had suffered massively due to the snow.

"Business has gone down by as much 80%," he said.

"People can’t get out with the weather. People have phoned up and said the taxis won’t bring them, or people who live in Colwyn Heights and have no chance of getting down, so they all cancelled their Christmas parties. It is disappointing, but there is nothing you can do it’s the weather. But the new year is coming and it’s getting warmer now."

Aiden Healy runs Manshop on Station Road and also said trade had been damaged by the weather.

"We only opened on Tuesday, we came back early because the weather improved," he said.

"There has been a few people around but it’s not been mad, the Christmas trade is hard to claw back, it’s a different trade after Christmas. It has been heartening to see the weather back at last, people can get out again.

"I would say 50% of trade has been lost because of the snow, and that is a round ball park figure I’ve heard from most people, they haven’t been able to get out. I know restaurants have had parties cancelled of 20-30 people- you never get them back."

John Shorracks runs West End Cycles in Colwyn Bay and said bike sales had plummeted.

"The weather certainly affected cycling, bike sales saw a big dip, people couldn’t get out," he said.

"We had customers who couldn’t get out their drives to pick up the bikes they had already bought, so if the weather was affecting people picking things up they had already bought it was certainly affecting sales.

"It was terrible right up to the thaw, customers were probably going to the big shopping centres because they were able to get in and out."

However Scott Evans is the deputy manager of The Ship in Rhos-on-Sea and said the pub continued to flourish, despite difficult trading conditions.

"Pretty much everybody on Christmas Day came for their bookings," he said.

"We only had eight cancellations over Christmas, we are lower down here, I know some of the pubs and restaurants higher up had 200 cancellations.

"The main problem was the council didn’t grit the roads, all the little side roads which lead to our car park were icy so you couldn’t get to the car park. We phoned up the council and said we wouldn’t pay our rates and the roads were gritted the next day."

Steve Bland is the manager of Wetherspoon's on Princes Drive in Colwyn Bay and added: "The weather did affect us a little bit, but not massively.

"The traditional mad Friday before Christmas was a lot quieter, but the rest was quite steady- and this week is always pretty steady between Christmas and New Year."