page_title: Rhyl
section_title: Buildings, landmarks and attractions
hierarchical_section_title: Rhyl / Buildings, landmarks and attractions
caption_attribution_description: English: Rhyl Sands, Oil on canvas
context_page_description: Rhyl is a seaside resort and community in the Welsh county of Denbighshire. It lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay and the resort of Towyn beyond, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south Rhuddlan. At the 2011 Census, Rhyl had a population of 25,149, with Rhyl-Kinmel Bay having 31,229. The Abergele–Rhyl–Prestatyn conurbation numbers over 60,000. Once an elegant Victorian resort, an influx from Liverpool and Manchester after the Second World War changed the town's face. It had declined sharply by 1990, but has since been improved by major regeneration investments. Several million pounds of European Union funding secured by the Welsh Government has been spent on developing the seafront.
context_section_description: Rhyl has a number of Grade II listed buildings and landmarks. These include the Parish Church of St Thomas in Bath Street, which is listed as Grade II*. Others are the Midland Bank building, the railway station along with two signal boxes and the public telephone box on the up platform, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, the Sussex Street Baptist Church; the Town Hall; the Swan public house in Russell Road, the war memorial, and the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Clwyd Street.
   
  Also notable is the Grade II listed Foryd Harbour Bridge, a blue bridge with distinctive bowstring girders, built in 1932. Situated over the River Clwyd, it links Rhyl with Kinmel Bay.
  Another landmark is the Church of St Margaret of Antioch. The Marble Church was built by Lady Margaret in memory of her late husband, Sir Henry Peyto Willoughby de Broke. Within four years the church was completed, and it was consecrated on 23 August 1860, becoming the parish church of a newly formed Parish of Bodelwyddan, covering an area formerly part of the Parish of St Asaph. The church is open daily from 9:30 to 16:30 throughout the year, except between 25 December and 6 January.
  A previous Rhyl landmark was the Pavilion Theatre, an ornate building with five domes, which was demolished in 1974. Beside it stood the pier, which was built in 1872, which was 2,355 feet (718 m) long and once included a pier railway. The structure was damaged by ships in 1883 and again in 1891. It was also damaged in 1901, when there was a fire at the Pavilion Theatre. Storms were responsible for further damage in 1909 and the pier was closed in 1913 as unsafe. It was reopened with a much-reduced length in 1930, but closed again in 1966, before being demolished in 1972.
  Rhyl's top attractions on the West Parade are Rhyl Children's Village theme park, and the 250-foot (76 m) Sky Tower (formerly the Clydesdale Bank tower, brought to Rhyl from the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival). The Sky Tower opened in 1989, but it was closed to the public in 2010 and transformed into an illuminated beacon in 2017. A VUE Cinema is also located there.
  On the East Parade is the SeaQuarium. Up until 2014, Rhyl Suncentre was also an attraction on the East Parade; an indoor water leisure centre which opened in 1980 at a cost of £4.25 million and featured a heated swimming pool, water chutes and slides, and Europe's first indoor surfing pool. The local council closed the centre in early 2014 and it was demolished in 2016. A new Travelodge hotel was built next to the site, which opened in early 2019. A new indoor/outdoor water park, the SC2, opened further along the promenade in 2019, and includes various pools with water chutes and slides, as well as a separate "Ninja Tag" assault course game complex. Also on the East Parade is the New Pavilion Theatre, opened in 1991. It has over 1,000 seats and is managed by Denbighshire County Council.
caption: David Cox, Rhyl Sands (c.1854), depicting the Rhyl seafront
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