'All been against us' says possibly Wales' most unlucky cafe boss

When Darren Randle replaced Apprentice winner Alana Spencer at the cafe on Llandudno seafront in April 2023 he was looking forward to a bumper season as families packed the paddling pool next to the site. But just as the deal with landlord Conwy council was completed the news came that the paddling pool was to remain closed for that summer due to a high risk of people slipping.

It would remain shut until mid-July this summer - dealing a major blow to the Coast cafe business plan for the site. For a few weeks they finally had the pool open this summer and the site clear of works.

But Darren was further cursed as in September work started on the additional flood defences along this part of the promenade. This has left the cafe "surrounded" by fencing and revenues are down 30% on the previous year over the same period.

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He says contractor MWT and its workforce have done their best to limit the impact and praised an individual Conwy council worker for his efforts. But he says requests to get a reduction in the lease for the period of the works have so far fallen on deaf ears.

His saving grace is that for all the misfortune at the Llandudno site his Rhos-on-Sea cafe - also named Coast - has continued to trade well and actually expanded. He's a man who has shown he knows what he's doing when the gods aren't against him!

He said: "It has really all been against us from day one here. There are days when you think about giving up on the site but I want to fight on. Luckily for us we have the Rhos site doing well but it just hasn't gone to plan here.

"The cafe was based around the pool being there in the summer but we have only had it open a few weeks during the 19 months we have been here. We had the pool closed and then works taking place here to finally repair the pool, it was then open for a few weeks over the last summer.

"But then the flood defence work started and because of where that is we have been surrounded. MWT and the workers have tried their best for us but there is only so much they can do. We have signs up saying we are open but the work has also made it harder for people to park near the cafe. We are down at least 30% on the same period last year.

"We lease this off the council so I asked for support while the work is happening, they are not interested.

"It is all a bit of a nightmare really. There are days you want to give up.

"We now have this until March and we will battle on. We are hoping that after that we can finally have a full season without all these problems."

A spokesperson for Conwy council said: "We can confirm we have received an email from Mr Randle, our Estates team will be contacting him direct."

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