Hundreds of people lined the streets of Caerphilly County Borough on Wednesday for the finale of Stage Four of the Tour of Britain cycle race.
Caerphilly’s second big event in four days did not fall victim to the weather, unlike Saturday’s BBC Proms in the Park which was rained off.
This time around the weather played its part with bright sunshine and clear skies. Crowds lined the streets to cheer on 96 of the world’s best cyclists.
Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru’s AM for South Wales East was out enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere.
The former council leader joked that he was the most unpopular man in Swansea after Caerphilly snatched the Tour of Britain and Proms in the Park from the city during his leadership.
He said: “The town is packed and buzzing.
“An event like this puts us on the map. The TV highlights will show us at our best.”
Mr Whittle also revealed that council staff had parked their cars to spell Croeso from the air and hoped the TV helicopter had picked it up.
Cllr Allan Pritchard, leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, had hoped for a stage win by Welsh cyclist Geriant Thomas. It wasn’t to be however as the Welshman finished 11th.
Cllr Pritchard said: “It’s incredible and wonderful for Caerphilly County Borough.
“We’ve had the big events like the Big Cheese and the Proms in the Park, but to have this is the icing on the cake.
“Tourism in Caerphilly is getting lift. Last year it attracted £85 million and this it will hopefully do more.
“To have the best riders in the world coming through the county borough has created a real buzz.”
There was plenty of action before the finish to the race though with local primary schools competing in an ‘Italian Pursuit’ relay race competition.
The overall winners were a team from Bedwas Juniors with Cwm Ifor Primary second and The Twyn School third.
Proud Alan Ryall from Bedwas watched his grandson Rhys Parkin take the winner’s medal on the podium after the contest.
He said: “Today has been excellent – it’s great for the youngsters.”
Council park services worker Simon Beacham, 46, from Caerphilly, said the organisation from the Tour of Britain has been excellent.
He said: “We have been involved in doing work for the whole of the route and it has been a pleasure to work with them.”
World champion cyclist Thor Hushovd, riding for Garmin-Cervelo, won the stage crossing the Caerphilly line in a time of 4hrs 32mins 22secs.
The 183km race started in Welshpool in the morning before heading down to Caerphilly through Ystrad Mynach, Llanbradach and Caerphilly town before the riders went up Caerphilly Mountain. The race came back into the town for a finish on Crescent Road.
Great event for Caerffili County Council to support and what a welcome from the residents too. The main town was packed as well as the final mountain stage (some sadistic directors in the TofB organisation) Can't wait to see the highlights on ITV4.
While it is obviously great to see events like this coming to Caerphilly I must say that revenue from tourism would be greatly enhanced if we saw improvements to Caerphilly town centre. People travelling from far and wide for such events simply do not feel enticed to visit and spend money in the town because in all honesty Caerphilly town centre does not offer the quality shops like other towns and cities in the locality. Its demoralising for local residents and tourists to see a brilliant castle amongst a string of bookmakers, charity shops and cheap shops. Its time Caerphilly town centre changed for the better but under this Plaid – led Council I dont see anything good happening soon.
James Pritchard is correct in his description of the shops in Caerphilly town but, to put it simply, the town is a dormitory for Cardiff where most people work and spend their money. For years I have tried to convince the Council to encourage the construction of a large office block, complete with call centres if need be, so that many local people could work in town and, during their lunch breaks, pop into local shops and help create a vibrant selection of retail businesses. Do we locals shop in Caerphilly for clothes, shoes, Christmas presents etc. when we are only 18 minutes by train from the sparkling array of shops in Cardiff? Politics is not the reason for the lack of quality shops in Caerphilly town. Many entrepreneurs have tried by opening shops in town but those with the purchasing power are spending their money in Cardiff during their lunch breaks.
Fabulous day out in Caerphilly – from watching the preparations, to the race, to the presentations! Caerphilly really is a stunning setting for any event and the people are fantastic .
Clive and James Pritchard are correct.
The Council staff engaged in this event, and all the other events which so impress their colleagues in other authorities throughout Wales have to be congratulated, these back room staff do not receive, nor do they aspire to public recognition, their gratification is the sucess of the events themselves, and perhaps the envy they create amongst their counterparts in other areas.
Whilst the retailers of the town continually say they do not benefit from such events, in fact some say they adversly effect their businesses, these events are not the solution to the decline of the town, Clive offers a good example of what should be considered and what is needed, but he say`s this is not a political issue, I disagree with him on that point, for instance, I think success or failure in this area rest firmly with local politicians in great measure, when a Ward Councillor, comments, when consider a new planning for yet another betting office on the opposite corner to the new Wetherspoons Pub, to the effect that " at least they can roll out of one into the other" demonstrates the lack of meaningful contribution some local politicians make to the demise of the retail trade in the town, I dont know if this man`s comment was meant to turned out to be a failed attempt at sarcastic humour, ( if that is not a contradiction)or if it was in support of the application.
When local politicians rehabilitate themselves and dispense with attempts at personal gratification and glory, and sycophantic backslapping of friends and supporters of their political party the sooner the benefits to the town will be seen, or, is it simply a lack of interlectual ability to do the job politicians of all parties are periodically elected to do, if so, that`s `POLITICS`.
A great day, such events like this and the Proms have put Caerphilly on the map again, a great boost to the town, only hope The proms are here next year and more events will be encouraged. Well done to all involved.
It was great to see the Tour de Britain come to Caerphilly, a real coup!
I would add a few comments to the issue of the shopping and tourism situation in Caerphilly.
To some extent Caerphilly does have inbuilt disadvantages that are always going to cause problems with regards to tourism and shopping, regardless of what political party holds power.
In the first case, Caerphilly is not an enormously wealthy town, when compared to for example, Chepstow or Monmouth, similar sized towns which have castles. Where there is limited disposable income, it will always be difficult to attract substantial, quality retail development. Chepstow ans Monmouth are also surrounded by fabulous, relatively unspoiled countryside, which has long been established as a magnet for walking, cycling sightseeing etc. The Wye Valley for example. Whilst Caerphilly has much wonderful countryside too, it does not have the reputation yet that that areas have. For Chepstow and Monmouth the countryside around them is as much a draw as the Castle for tourists. Caerphilly does not have that reputation unfortunately.
Secondly Caerphilly is not aided by its proximity to Cardiff. As had been pointed out, Caerphilly is but 20 minutes on the train from Cardiff, with its infinitly better choice of shopping. I saw a similar problem when I lived in Leominster in Herefordshire. Leominster has a similar shopping set up as Caerphilly, one of the reasons being that Hereford was less then 30 minutes away on the train offered a much better range of shops.
Thirdly the layout of Caerphilly does not entice prime retail companies to Caerphilly. Residential housing extends right into the town centre. This restricts severely the amount of space for shops. All the shops on Caerphilly high street are small units with little or no space to expand. You couldn't say to M&S for example: "come and set up a big store in Caerphilly town centre, don't worry we'll knock down most of Stockland Street for you." Unless you knock together some of the smaller units to form bigger units with more space, the bigger retailers will not be interested.
In terms of the Castle itself, yes it is a huge draw. But its setting is not that picturesque. It is surrounded on three sides by the urban vista of Caerphilly itself, and again when comparing it to say, Ludlow Castle or Chepstow castle it does not occupy an elevated, commanding position, occupying as it does a fairly low level site in the town centre.
There are at least partial solutions to these issues I think. Firstly Caerphilly could play on its proximity to Cardiff to try and attract some medium sized office based businesses away from Cardiff to here. Sell Caerphilly as place close to Cardiff, but where business rates and rents are cheaper. There is a big slab of unused land to the left of the railway line as you come in to the town from Cardiff on the train, surely a decent set of office blocks could be built there, or a retail park of some sort?
As for the town centre, I think Caerphilly has improved tremendously since I was a boy 30 years or so ago. I remember the horrible carpark where the Tourist office and War Memorial are now for instance but more can be done. Demolish all the buildings along Park Lane behind Lloyds TSB, and landscape the ones on the other side of the road. Park Lane is a shocking eyesore for those approaching the castle from the station. Tatty buildings block the view of the castle. The cleared land could be landscaped and incoporated into the existing park.
Perhaps consider building a shopping Mall of some sort on the site of the old Miners hospital rather than yet more housing. Having been to Cwmbran and seen the excellent shopping facilities they have built there on a relatively small site, I am sure that it could be done in Caerphilly too.
If the best Caerphilly can hope for in terms of future retail development is a new Wetherspoons, a new KFC and a new Bookies, then frankly it is a sad lookout for the town indeed.
Caerphilly does have lots of potential, and I am certain that with the right political leaderhip at least some of it could be realised.