# Barry Island. There's lovely.



## Lucky JACKSON (Apr 15, 2006)

No man is an island - except Barry Island.

Every mention of my hometown comes with a stack of flak,knowing jibes and now bloody Porthcawl has been referred as an upscale edition by the editor.
It aint right.
I feel it's time someone restored the balance.
Some Barry facts
1) When the Welsh edition of Monopoly was launched Barry got the covetted Old Kent Road spot.
2) Barry has a park dedicated to the blind. It used to have a wooden rail alongside perfumed plants with the plants name in braille.
It now has weeds and the shelters have been bricked in to stop that other smell.
Then the council built a pond.
Then they banned dogs.
3) My favourite snippet of overheard conversation was a mother and a daughter arguing while walking their dog. 'He's not a paedo he's just a pervert'. Local colour you just don't get in the city.
Please feel free to add more favourable facts and restore some of the old dignity.


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## 1927 (Apr 15, 2006)

When leaving the public library on King's square a few years ago I noticed that one of the drunks was drinking Kaliber. That sums up Barry more than anything else I can think of!


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## Brockway (Apr 15, 2006)

There was a massive fruit fly epidemic at Barry Island that peaked in the summer of 1966. Apparently it was down to bananas being dumped at Barry Docks. Shopkeepers were wiping hundreds of dead flies off their shelves and the general public had to keep their windows permanently shut despite the hot weather.


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## oooomegrapes (Apr 15, 2006)

The cockles from the beach made me sick once 

 the local shops have the most amount of flavours of mad dog 20/20 in the western hemisphere


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## Velouria (Apr 15, 2006)

Barry who?


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## oooomegrapes (Apr 15, 2006)

he was the fat bloke in enders who janiiiiiiiiiine chucked off a cliff


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## suzee blue cheese (Apr 15, 2006)

I cycled to Barry from Port Talbot when I was 12 with my younger bro and his mate.  They had Racers, I had a Moulton Mini   

We bunked in to Barry Butlins through a squeezable gap in the railings.  It was great.  Much more exciting than Aberavon.

We stayed overnight at the Youth Hostel, near St Athans if I remember correctly.  

I'm so glad my childhood spanned the 60s & 70s - the freedoms we had compared to what kids have today..


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## phildwyer (Apr 16, 2006)

A bit rough at night innit.  I remember playing gigs at the Sea Lion, just by the causeway to the island in the early 80's and there was *always* a fight, even when there were only five people in the place.  I loved the funfair and the Butlins in the 70's but its all a bit grim these days.


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## RubberBuccaneer (Apr 16, 2006)

'Pleasure park ' is pushing it a bit. I feel distinctly undertattooed when I go there and keep my sunglasses on all the time so as not to catch peoples eye.

The beach is lovely though, always combed by a tractor...good for the kids!


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## Dai Sheep (Apr 16, 2006)

I used to love going Barry whwn I was a kid - especially the pleasure park. Its only when youre older that you realise how tacky the place really is.

Last time I went was a couple of years ago in the evening with the mrs. It was like fucking chav city. We stayed about ten minutes and went while we still had our wallets.

Shame, could be such a nice place...


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## editor (Sep 9, 2006)

I used to go to Barry a lot when I was kid - I can even remember playing in the rows of sorry rusting steam locomotives in Dai Woodham's yard!

I'm made a start with a load of photos taken a few weeks ago, but I'll see if I can dig up some archive stuff too.

Anyone else used to holiday on Barry?

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/barry-island.html


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## mwgdrwg (Sep 9, 2006)

Nice one editor.

I went to Butlins on Barry Island a couple of times when I was a nipper.


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## Biddlybee (Sep 9, 2006)

Nice


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## Herbsman. (Sep 9, 2006)

Those pics are amateurish, they dont address the concerns of the learned differences inbetween real and the 'superfluous' experience, what the eye sees and the eye knows are two entirely partial subtances, distance is no object and thats because the metaphysical metatarsal metaphor is indicative of the fact that the editor was staring nil at the LCD screen when he tooke them


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## passenger (Sep 9, 2006)

use to go there every year, when i was a kid brings back memories


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## phildwyer (Sep 9, 2006)

Remember the "Traum Boot?"  Its still there.


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## Sweaty Betty (Sep 9, 2006)

I remember the big yellow numbers on the beach wall, so you wouldnt get lost..........i would still panic , as there was sooo many on the beach back then, i would invariably get lost....


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## cesare (Sep 9, 2006)

Daytrips when I was a kid staying at my nan's. There or Porthcawl usually.


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## Brockway (Sep 10, 2006)

editor said:
			
		

> Anyone else used to holiday on Barry?



Yup, Fred West. A regular visitor throughout his life. There are photos of him at Barry Island in a couple of those True Crime books.

Also cool sci-fi writer Alastair Reynolds is from Barry (although he now lives in Holland). The steam locomotive scrap yard influenced his version of outer space!

We used to have street trips to Barry Island. Oh the glamour... 

Nice pics btw


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## editor (Sep 10, 2006)

haylz said:
			
		

> I remember the big yellow numbers on the beach wall, so you wouldnt get lost..


Ah yes, I remember them. And I got horribly lost several times - but then the beach used to be _packed solid_ in those days.


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## Hocus Eye. (Sep 10, 2006)

So what happened to the scrap yard? Is it not there any more?  I went there on a trip organised by the Great Western Preservation Society sometime in the late 60's and was most impressed by the masses of rusty steam locos all parked on lots of parallel railway lines.  I think they bought some locos and parts to use on the Paignton and Kingswear line which they later opened as a working steam line.  I visited Barry several times years later, on the way to other places, but it always seemed a grim place to me, even in the summer.


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## Hocus Eye. (Sep 10, 2006)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> Those pics are amateurish, they dont address the concerns of the learned differences inbetween real and the 'superfluous' experience, what the eye sees and the eye knows are two entirely partial subtances, distance is no object and thats because the metaphysical metatarsal metaphor is indicative of the fact that the editor was staring nil at the LCD screen when he tooke them



Herbsman

You are the arts correspondent of the Underwater Basket Weavers gazette.  I have my copy of the free colour supplement for January 1957 and I claim my ten shillings and sixpence


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## editor (Sep 10, 2006)

Hocus Eye. said:
			
		

> So what happened to the scrap yard? Is it not there any more?


The scrapyard's long gone, although there is now a preserved steam line running past the site. http://www.valeglamrail.co.uk/


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## Cadmus (Sep 10, 2006)

editor said:
			
		

> Anyone else used to holiday on Barry?


No, but it seems whatever island u holiday on you get similar pics. 






nice pics, as always.


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## Strumpet (Sep 10, 2006)

Beautiful pics. 

Yup used to go on day trips alot when small.


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## suzee blue cheese (Sep 10, 2006)

Back in the early 70's when children were let out during their own childhoods, my brother, his mate and I set off on our bicycles from Broomhill in Port Talbot heading for the Youth Hostel near Barry, in St Athans I think it was.  I was the oldest having just turned 12.  

We squeezed through the railings into Barry Butlins and had a great day, staying overnight at the YH before heading homeward the next day.  Ah those heady days of childhood independence.


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## RubberBuccaneer (Sep 10, 2006)

Barry scares me


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## Brockway (Sep 10, 2006)

RubberBuccaneer said:
			
		

> Barry scares me



Apparently there is a bit of a feud between the yoot of Ely and Barry at the moment. Young scamps from Barry have been coming to Ely looking for trouble.


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## Sweaty Betty (Sep 10, 2006)

They been exchanging pot shots for years......


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## Brockway (Sep 10, 2006)

haylz said:
			
		

> They been exchanging pot shots for years......



I didn't know that. Seems geographically quite an odd one to me. Do kids from Llanrumney fight kids from Newport? Maybe they do.

Anyway my brother-in-law found a youth from Barry cowering in his front garden the other week. Apparently he had been chased all over Ely and was shitting himself. He had to be driven out of the area by the coppers for his own safety, once it was established he wasn't on the rob.


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## ZIZI (Sep 11, 2006)

My first holiday was in Barry Butlins. Me, mam, dad and my two sisters travelled there in a relatives camper van-dropped off at the front gates and after getting all booked in went off to find our chalet. I was 13 at the time and I was imagining a plush trendy place to stay but what greeted us was sometheing I will remember for many years.

The bunk bed rocked back and fore and smelt fausty. There were so many staines on the furninshings it left me traumatised. However, it was our first family holiday and after joining the kids clubs and putting on a really Welsh accent because everyone else had a brumy or some sort of English accent I just wanted to fit in (what I didn't realise at that age was that my Welsh accent was already there I just didn' know it) I also told the other kids that I came from miles and miles away when in reality I came from just outside Caerphilly.

I had a fab time even though we had very little money then my parents made sure we had fun on the beach by my dad organising beach games with the other kids.

If I told my kids now that we were going to Barry on holiday they would think I was insane and embarrassing.

Barry has some good childhood memories its nice to drift back and remember those days in the 70's.....


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## bendeus (Sep 12, 2006)

I smile at how small, pokey and rumpled the old fair looks when I drive past it now. When I was a kid it was a huge, glittery (albeit urine-smelling), flawless edifice of fun. I'm sure, though,  that to adults it was as grotty then as it is now to me. It's amazing how perceptions change over time.  

I particularly liked the fun house with its carpet-lined revolving tube and the vertical slide ("shoes off!"), as well as the aforementioned Traum Boot. Happy memories indeed.


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## ZIZI (Sep 12, 2006)

bendeus said:
			
		

> I smile at how small, pokey and rumpled the old fair looks when I drive past it now. When I was a kid it was a huge, glittery (albeit urine-smelling), flawless edifice of fun. I'm sure, though,  that to adults it was as grotty then as it is now to me. It's amazing how perceptions change over time.
> 
> I particularly liked the fun house with its carpet-lined revolving tube and the vertical slide ("shoes off!"), as well as the aforementioned Traum Boot. Happy memories indeed.




Ah yes, those friction carpet burns, what fun!!


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## bendeus (Sep 12, 2006)

Friction burns and stale urine odours. Ahhhh!


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## Karac (Sep 15, 2006)

Nice photos -but it makes it look a lot more depressing than i remember it-but i havent been there for years.
I went to Barry for a friends birthday do when we were kids-unfortunately the birthday boy had had a load of candi-floss and coke and decided to puke it all up on the Spanish waltzer-the centrifugal force making it spray all over the rest of us and the bloke in charge of the ride wouldnt stop the thing till the bitter end.

I also worked as a waiter at Barry Butlins for a season years ago-it was a pretty shit job and doling out the "food" was embarassing,the menus would make it sound all nice but it was just mass cooked ready plated crap that arrived in mobile ovens.
Quite often the waiters would drop the food on the kitchen floor cos they it was baking hot and then have to scrape it back up off the floor,dust and all,because they only had a limited number of meals 
The highlight of the day was going to the local con club because they did cheap strong swiss lager.


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## Addy (Sep 15, 2006)

I went there a few times as a kid and took my family there the begining of the summer. (I got sunburnt quite badly)
It made for a nice day out.


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## Cerisa (Sep 15, 2006)

ah, i still go there quite a lot, as my gran lives in Cardiff - my dad likes to take us on walks in the nice healthy sleet over the Christmas holidays to work off all the turkey


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## Cerisa (Sep 15, 2006)

hope no-one minds, some pics from when i was last there


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## Addy (Sep 15, 2006)

I like pic 2 with some contrast/rgb changes you can make it quite outstanding.





changed contrast






changed RGB


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## Cerisa (Sep 19, 2006)

ooh i love how it looks with the contrast adjusted, i must get a decent photoshop program


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## Structaural (Sep 19, 2006)

editor said:
			
		

> I used to go to Barry a lot when I was kid - I can even remember playing in the rows of sorry rusting steam locomotives in Dai Woodham's yard!
> 
> I'm made a start with a load of photos taken a few weeks ago, but I'll see if I can dig up some archive stuff too.
> 
> ...



Our school (Dick Sheppard on Tulse Hill) took two years worth of kids to Barry Butlin's back in 1985ish for a week. The poor, poor residents of Barry 
It remains one of the highlights of my time at school though.


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## editor (May 9, 2008)

Some photos from the weekend:






























More: http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/barry-island-photos.html


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## littlebabyjesus (May 9, 2008)

Went there once on a school trip. We had a brilliant time in the morning at Barry Island, then had to spend the afternoon at St Fagan's, complete with bloody worksheets.


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## editor (May 9, 2008)

From my page:



> A lesser known fact about Barry Island is that it was the favoured hoiday haunt  of the serial killer  Fred West in the  1950s.
> 
> After he committed suicide in prison in 1995, he left instructions  to be buried at the family plot at St Bartholomew's, Much Marcle. The villagers  weren't much keen on the idea so he ended up being cremated, leaving West's  unfortunate children were left with an urn full of his ashes - which they  promptly despatched to the murky brown waters off Barry Island.
> Read more


.


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## Thimble Queen (May 9, 2008)

isnt that where stacey's from?


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## LilMissHissyFit (May 9, 2008)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Went there once on a school trip. We had a brilliant time in the morning at Barry Island, then had to spend the afternoon at St Fagan's, complete with bloody worksheets.



St fagans is ace, minus the worksheets


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## editor (May 9, 2008)

St Fagans rocks!


























http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/st-fagans-museum.html


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## littlebabyjesus (May 9, 2008)

editor said:


> St Fagans rocks!


Not when I was 10 years old, it didn't.


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## FaradayCaged (May 9, 2008)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Not when I was 10 years old, it didn't.



hehe same here

anyone seen the newest south park episode 'super fun time' it reminded me of st fagans!


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## Threshers_Flail (May 9, 2008)

> anyone seen the newest south park episode 'super fun time' it reminded me of st fagans!



Ha i thought the same thing as well. If only st fagans was as interesting tho.


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## 1927 (May 9, 2008)

I've always loved St.Fagans even when I was ten!


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## Gromit (May 9, 2008)

I went when I was ten and saw a robin redbreast 
Much better than being in school.


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## 1927 (May 9, 2008)

Marius said:


> I went when I was ten and saw a robin redbreast
> Much better than being in school.




I remember Robin, that was a nasty rash that made her breasts red. She grew out of it tho.


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## softybabe (May 9, 2008)

editor said:


> St Fagans rocks!




cool pics ed, we went there last weekend as well...^^^one of my favs ...i loved the church and the huts as well...got pics on my phone...


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## fizzerbird (May 9, 2008)

oh...whas ocurrring?


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## softybabe (May 9, 2008)

fizzerbird said:


> oh...whas ocurrring?



St Fagans burd...tis very coolio there


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## Strumpet (May 9, 2008)

MrsDarlingsKiss said:


> isnt that where stacey's from?



Yes and Nessa 



I wun't lie to ewe Ed....them's fukn lush pics mun


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## LilMissHissyFit (May 10, 2008)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Not when I was 10 years old, it didn't.



You sure it wasnt you with the attitude problem?
Even 20 years ago with only a handful of buildings and when it charged loads for entry it was wonderful....


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## keybored (May 10, 2008)

editor said:


>



Chopper


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## rhod (May 10, 2008)

keypulse said:


> Chopper



or, maybe...


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## keybored (May 10, 2008)

rhod said:


> or, maybe...



Sorry, I meant the book


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## 1927 (May 10, 2008)

LilMissHissyFit said:


> You sure it wasnt you with the attitude problem?
> Even 20 years ago with only a handful of buildings and when it charged loads for entry it was wonderful....



Seconded


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## lewislewis (May 10, 2008)

I live near Barry Island


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## Space Girl (May 11, 2008)

my gramps built this building (the white one with the pillars) and fell off it and broke his back


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## 1927 (May 11, 2008)

LilMissHissyFit said:


> You sure it wasnt you with the attitude problem?
> Even 20 years ago with only a handful of buildings and when it charged loads for entry it was wonderful....


Me,Mrs27 and bump have just been over to St.F's.Walked thru museum from car park, left via the pedestrian entrance and had a lovely pint of pear cider in the Plymouth Arms.It was the incentive I needed to walk in this heat!!


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## CRI (May 12, 2008)

Oh, had a smashing afternoon at St Fagans today with a friend from Edinburgh who was well impressed.  Hotter than Satan's G String today.  Whew! They've changed the name of the place and one of the staff said they're getting feedback that it's confusing for people.  Whatever it's called, I love it - oh and had a quick zip round Barry Island on Friday night as well. Love the snaps on the thread.

(Newbie here - recommended by a good friend btw.)


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## ddraig (May 12, 2008)

CRI said:


> Oh, had a smashing afternoon at St Fagans today with a friend from Edinburgh who was well impressed.  Hotter than Satan's G String today.  Whew! They've changed the name of the place and one of the staff said they're getting feedback that it's confusing for people.  Whatever it's called, I love it - oh and had a quick zip round Barry Island on Friday night as well. Love the snaps on the thread.
> 
> (Newbie here - recommended by a good friend btw.)



welcome / croeseo CRI


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## CRI (May 13, 2008)

ddraig said:


> welcome / croeseo CRI



Ah, diolch yn fawr!  
Ah, thank you!


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## King Biscuit Time (May 13, 2008)

Are you named after the Cardiff Royal Infirmary on Newport road?


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## jayeola (May 13, 2008)

went there in the nineties to a "rave" either on the beach or "forest". Either way I had a really nice time. Great party with nice people.


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## Strumpet (May 13, 2008)

*waves at CRI* 


MMmmmmmmm pear cider *drool*


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## ddraig (May 13, 2008)

King Biscuit Time said:


> Are you named after the Cardiff Royal Infirmary on Newport road?



i thought this and wondered if it was a friend of a friend


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## Gromit (May 13, 2008)

Pear cider (which is a mix of Perry and cider) or Perry which is the pear equiv of cider?

Has a friend who makes real Perry as an independant brewer (and real cider).


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## Strumpet (May 13, 2008)

*sluuuuuuuuuuuurp*


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## LilMissHissyFit (May 13, 2008)

1927 said:


> Me,Mrs27 and bump have just been over to St.F's.Walked thru museum from car park, left via the pedestrian entrance and had a lovely pint of pear cider in the Plymouth Arms.It was the incentive I needed to walk in this heat!!



I can walk there from my house now we've moved... am yet to do so though


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## CRI (May 15, 2008)

Strumpet said:


> *waves at CRI*
> 
> 
> MMmmmmmmm pear cider *drool*



Ta for the wave and welcome Strumpet!

It's gotta be ice cold though.


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## editor (Jun 2, 2008)

Now here's a fantastic site: History of Barry Island Holiday Camp






(There's a fair few images missing but there's still some good stuff in there)


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## shygirl (Jun 11, 2008)

Spent most summer weekends in Barry Island as a kid, got so many fond memories of it.   The train from Queen St station was always packed with hundreds of excited kids clutching bucket and spade, dreaming of donkey rides, splashing about in the sea, and a couple of rides on the shows.   The beach was huge, so easy to get lost on, hence the constant blare over loud-speakers of missing child announcements.  You had to remember the number on the wall along the edge of the beach as a pointer to where your mum and dad were sat.  I wouldn't mind betting a few of the parents moved just to get a couple of hours kip and sunburn without the kids shouting for a sarnie or lolly or chips.  Mmm, the chips at the far end of the promenade were the best ever, well worth the walk and the wait.  Wonder what Barry's like these days.  Is the water any cleaner?


One of my fave places was Fontigary.  We were homeless for a while and lived in my aunty's caravan for a couple of months.  It was fab, right by the sea and lots of fields for playing in.  Oh, and the best fish and chip shop ever.


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## mwgdrwg (Jun 19, 2008)

I went to Butlins about thirty years ago. My mum always recites the story about being on the beach when this "strange little black boy" appeared. It was me covered in some kind of oil.

I hope they've cleaned the beach up a bit since then.


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## mwgdrwg (Jun 19, 2008)

editor said:


> Now here's a fantastic site: History of Barry Island Holiday Camp
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'll show that to my mum, she'll love it.


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## editor (Nov 26, 2014)

The fun fair is looking in a terrible state these days although apparently it will be rebuilt.







http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/barry-island-pleasure-park-demolition-8175285


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## mwgdrwg (Nov 26, 2014)

That place was magical to me when I was a kid in the late 70s. So sad to see.


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## bendeus (Nov 26, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> That place was magical to me when I was a kid in the late 70s. So sad to see.



This. Magical and huge. Its dazzle and allure masked the smell of piss in the fun house and the crapness of the ghost train. 

Remember going back as a grown up during the death rattle of the pleasure park. It was tiny, sad and crap


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## editor (May 26, 2018)

Behold the beauty of Barry Island in its prime.


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## ViolentPanda (May 26, 2018)

editor said:


> Behold the beauty of Barry Island in its prime.
> 
> View attachment 136433



To be fair, I still wouldn't want to go there, 'cos phildwyer reckoned the people there were dead hard, and would stab up anyone who wasn't from Barry, *AND* some people who were from Barry!


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## ddraig (May 26, 2018)




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## editor (Jun 23, 2018)

Space Girl said:


> my gramps built this building (the white one with the pillars) and fell off it and broke his back


Have you got any other old pics?  Sorry to hear about your grandpa.


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## editor (Jun 23, 2018)

Good to see some investment coming to the island 


























Barry Island photos: sea, sand, beach huts and Butlin’s


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## editor (Jun 23, 2018)

Barry Island in the 1960s.



More here: 63 marvellously nostalgic photographs that show Barry Island and Porthcawl in their wonderful heyday


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## 8ball (Jun 24, 2018)

Tidy.


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## Supine (Jun 24, 2018)

Barrybados 

Costa Del Barry 

Barry Del Mar


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## isvicthere? (Jun 24, 2018)

Lucky JACKSON said:


> No man is an island - except Barry Island.
> 
> Every mention of my hometown comes with a stack of flak,knowing jibes and now bloody Porthcawl has been referred as an upscale edition by the editor.
> It aint right.
> ...



I used to work with someone from Barry Island. I'd actually been there (circa 1983)  but all I could say was a highly predictable, "Gavin and Stacey?"


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## isvicthere? (Jun 24, 2018)

Supine said:


> Barrybados
> 
> Costa Del Barry
> 
> Barry Del Mar



Barrio Barry!


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## editor (Jul 23, 2020)

Yesterday was about the busiest I've seen Barry Island since I was a kid: 

























						Hundreds travel to Barry Island as the Welsh lockdown eases, Weds 22nd July 2020 – in photos
					

Barry Island was the busiest I’ve seen it for a very long time yesterday, as hundreds of people took advantage of the glorious weather, and filled the beach and promenade.




					www.urban75.org


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