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Coney Beach fairground in the Welsh seaside resort of Porthcawl has been operating since 1918 and closed permanently on Oct 5th 2025.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux Pre-Asph v2 @ f/5.6

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I stayed for a couple of days in the town for a funeral of a family friend, and had time to see the changes from the outside.

The funfair figured large in my childhood as my grandparents had a holiday caravan nearby and we visited every year.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux Pre-Asph v2 @ f/1.4

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The area is to be redeveloped as housing and, while probably good for the town, I feel something is being lost.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux  Pre-Asph v2 @ f/1.4

Edited by robbie3
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The site is closed to visitors as dismantling and demolition is progressing at pace. Photos taken through the fence.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux Pre-Asph v2 @ f/1.4

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As workers dismantled the facade of the Ghost Train ride (in the photo before this), an older image was revealed.

M10-D, 50mm Voigtlander Nokton Asph f/1.2

 

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Following its heyday from the 1950s through to the 1980s the funfair fell on hard times, visitor numbers falling in the 1990s following a series of accidents. Many of the historic permanent rides were replaced by travelling funfair rides.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux Pre-Asph v2 @ f/1.4

Edited by robbie3
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1 hour ago, Smudgerer said:

Nice documentary topic Robbie..........Pity the fencing restricted you on the only day you didn't have your industrial strength wire-cutters in the boot............Cheers from your friends in VdR ! 

Thanks Smudgerer, hard to believe I forgot to pack the bolt cutters with my suit.

I'd have loved to have got inside the perimeter fence but it was clearly not sensible, ten years ago I might have given it a try :)

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Not sure it's going to a good place for housing Robbie. Some of the guys from this neck of the woods go to Porthcawl when there's a big South Westerly blowing. to take shots of the lighthouse being buried in waves.

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I'll miss the fading supersaturated colours. I suspect this will all be flattened by the time of my next visit.

M10-D, 35mm Summilux Pre-Asph v2 & 50mm Voigtlander Nokton Asph f/1.2

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Absolutely superb series of photographs, Robbie, and on a serious note these will remain invaluable as a lasting record which captures the closure of an enterprise which was of considerable importance - on numerous levels - for a great many people over the space of a century or more.

Might you consider applying permission from the local council (etc.) to document the site in the interests of 'Posterity'? Surely it must be worth asking purely from the historical aspect? Perhaps showing them the images you have already captured might awaken some sense of the importance of Local Significance within someone working for the local council - if not a local History Group / Museum?

Stating the obvious, I know, but once it has been razed to the ground the chance to preserve these 'attractions'(*) will have gone for ever...

Thanks for posting the images; really enjoyed seeing them.

Philip.

* On a personal note? I would love to know what delights were to be discovered in 'van Gogh's Workroom' seen centre-rear pic. 2, post #10...

Edited by pippy
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