We found these steel silhouette sculptures on the Promenade close to the pier at Colwyn Bay. They are by Freshwest and depict a family on holiday by the sea.
The pier is a new one.
When we last visited Colwyn Bay, which seems a very long time ago now, there was a building on the old pier which was mainly a cafe with several stalls around selling things like second hand books and beach toys.
The first phase of the first pier on this site opened on 1st June 1900 and was known as the Victoria Pier and Pavilion. A second phase, doubing the length of the pier, was finished around 1905. In 1911 the owners tried to sell the pier as it wasn't profitable but it failed to sell before the outbreak of WWI in 1914. A small theatre was added to the end of the pier in 1916.
In 1922 the Pavilion theatre was destroyed by fire, but the newer little theatre survived. Construction of a second pavilion began in 1923 and it lasted ten years before it was, like the first pavilion, destroyed by fire
A third pavilion was built with fire retardant materials in an Art Deco style. The inside walls were decorated by Mary Adshead and Eric Ravilious. Apparently they were abstract works depicting underwater scenes. The new, third pavilion opened in 1934. There were many alterations made over the years due to changes in taste and fashion. Meanwhile the pier deteriorated.
By 2018 after much legal wrangling the whole pier was demolished and those Art Deco murals that had not succumbed to damage by damp were rescued by Conwy Council conservation staff.
The new pier was opened on 21st July 2021.
Here is a - link - to more about the murals and another - link - to an article about the history of the pier.
