JULIANRUCK

STROLL on Swansea!

Revamped hotels, caravan parks and eco-warriors are now the name of the game in this ancient spot of tourist deliverance.

Being an inhabitant myself of this sometimes surly town, with its charming mix of old and new minds, chapel and high church optimism in a heretical world and faded street blues, those who are attempting to bring some commercial reality to the place are to be congratulated.

Well, Covid-19 allowing!

But – and where Ruck is concerned, as all you readers will know, there has to be a ‘but’ – will all this well-intentioned effort pay off?

It is certainly in with a chance, but only if those with commercial intent do it properly and with

Novelist, broadcaster, political commentator and guest public speaker an eye to the outside world.

After all, Swansea is hardly renowned for a cosmopolitan approach to things, as I well know.

Will the pubs succumb to microwaved grub, and will vast plasma screens intent on abusing gentle conversation be the order of the day?

Will caravans determined to leave behind their detritus of holiday fun, be allowed to depart with a happy and forgiving Welsh smile?

And will your average, silent twitcher be allowed to twitch without fear of intrusion and dastardly human interference?

Challenges indeed, one might think, and not to mention Castle Gardens and everything else that is the town centre – a concrete jungle!

Far be it for me to put the boot in.

I am an outsider, an interloping, English speaking, irreverent heathen (and actually rather proud of the fact as it happens!) and one unfamiliar with traditional Swansea sensibility.

But one thing I do know, Wales’s only hope for future economic growth is leisure and tourism.

This being the case, local businesses, if they are to succeed, must cast aside Welsh insularity and parochialism, otherwise projects such as the above will last a year and be no more.

There is a huge and accessible market place out there, from South America to China.

Look beyond the Severn Bridge all you business boyos, invest and good luck!