JOLLY BROLLIES
Art installation plan to brighten town centre:
A regeneration group has secured funding for an exciting art installation project that could transform a town centre street.
HWB Caernarfon, which is funded by local businesses, has been awarded £15,000 towards the project – which could see hundreds of umbrellas dangling above a street in the historic town.
It is all part of ambitious plans to bring more people and new retailers into Caernarfon, which is described as being “on the up” thanks to investment and its unique offering.
HWB Caernarfon manager Gavin Owen said projects like this can help fill up remaining empty units in the town centre.
Business owner Endaf Cooke, who owns J&C Chippy, welcomed the project but also wants Pool Street opened to traffic during the winter months to help make it easier for people to shop in town.
Mr Owen said: “It is no secret that high streets are struggling because there are simply less people now coming into town centres to shop.
“Caernarfon does have empty shops in the town centre – although it is faring better than a lot of other places in Wales and across the UK.
“The town on the whole is on the up – we have had investment and more work is going on, with money spent on the railway, the theatre and now slate quay. We within the BID are now working to combine that investment with what we are doing here to bring people into the town centre.”
One of their stand-out projects is the art installation – which will cover either Pool or Palace Street with brightly coloured umbrellas.
The infrastructure used for that can then be re-purposed for more new installations in the future.
Mr Owen said: “I have seen this in Spain and Portugal and think it can work here. This is alongside everything else we are doing here, cleaning empty shops and brickwork, reopening the Tourism Information Centre and creating a website for the town.
“We also hope to secure a major grant for a marketing project.
“We have something very niche here in Caernarfon, we have the castle, the walls and the railways, we are at the foot of Snowdonia and we are also the most Welsh speaking town in the world.
“That makes Caernarfon very unique.
“We want to hear from small niche businesses that want to be part of that and come here.”
Mr Cooke said he welcomed the art installation idea as something that would “draw” people up Pool Street.
But he also wants Gwynedd council to consider opening up the pedestrianised street to traffic.
He said: “I had read that this has worked in Holywell to bring more people into the town centre. I have spoken to other business owners and we think it could work here during the quiet months of the year.”