My little brother has just come back from a long weekend in Newquay, it was the weekend before last. He said it was absolutely dead. He went on the Saturday to the Wednesday with 3 of his mates and stayed in a new apartment that is worth around £350,000 and it only cost them about £500 (for all 4 of them). Basically they seem to have built loads of fancy apartments designed for second homes down there but there is no demand down there for them so you can get them really cheap at the moment.
He said that the beaches are as nice as ever but Newquay as a place...
Put it this way, at 9pm on Sunday night they went out to get some food and everywhere wasn't serving food. Yes I know, 9pm is late but we are talking in 'season' here, at the very least you would expect a chippy to be open. He said that there were only two takeaways open in the whole of Newquay. This is a town that boasts how it can cater for over 200,000 people in the peak summer months. He said he was embarrassed because he had been telling his mates at how good it was (remembering from years ago) and how nice the food was in the pubs / restaurants but everywhere was closed.
He said that the pubs stank and were like 'old mans' pubs (his words). He said that it's that bad that he didn't think that Newquay was 'dying' it was more that is was already 'dead'.
Now I know businesses shut early down there if it's 'quiet' but to close early in season is a big no no. Do you think my brother and his mates will go back down there next year? It's supposed to be the tourist capital of Cornwall and the first week of June and everywhere is closing early?
He said that there was a Jet Ski contest with people from across the world attending the event on Fistral Beach (I think). He said that there were loads of people watching the contest so they assumed that the towns pubs would be packed later that day but every single pub was completely dead.
We've been going down there for years as a family and the place seems to be going downhill year on year. My own opinions on the reasons are as follows:
1. - Surfing
Surfing used to be the big draw for people going to Cornwall. In the mid 90's every car seemed to have a surfboard strapped to the roof. The surfers went down there, they created the 'vibe' which attracted the mass crowds, in short it was 'cool'.
Well surfing has been on a decline in the UK since the 90's. Just do a search on Google trends and you will see this decline.
So without the surfers going down there every summer you get less of a 'vibe' which is what makes the place great. So you end up with a load of people turning up to a party that isn't happening any more and they don't come back the next year, a snowball effect.
2. - Parking
Families are being charged around £6 per day to park a car so they can take their kids for a 'cheap' day on the beach. The problem is it's no longer a 'cheap' day on the beach. £6 per day for a two week holiday is £84. This is after paying extremely high petrol costs to get there in the first place. Then they have to pay 'beach prices' for the ice creams. A family of 4 would do well to come back from that cheap day at the beach with much change from £30.
The council have tried to milk the tourists of the little money they have got left but all it's done is shoot themselves in the foot because they won't put up with it and won't go back.
3. - Quality
The quality of everything seems very poor in comparison to what we get up here in the Manchester area. If you are looking for a souvenir it's all cheap tat. There isn't really anything that strikes you as being a quality 'local' item. The service has also gone downhill. We get far better service at most places that we go to up here in Manchester than we do in Newquay.
When I found out Frankie and Bennies were opening in Newquay a lot of people said that's not what Newquay needed, but I myself thought it was great because it should make the other local food outlets up their game a little and improve the service / food. I'm not saying Frankie and Bennies is good, I've never been there, but a national chain should have a well run ship regarding customer service and consistent food quality, something which the majority of the local food outlets severely lack.
4. - Price
For a family to go to Newquay for two weeks it's going to cost them about:
Fuel = £150 to £200
Parking = £50 to £100
Accommodation = £1,000 to £1,500
Food, ice creams treats, Arcades, days out £500+
A holiday in Cornwall wouldn't leave you much change from £2,000 if any.
For £2,000 you could get a very nice all inclusive holiday abroad with virtually guaranteed sunshine.
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So I think that Newquay is suffering for a variety of reasons and this will be having a knock on effect to the rest of Cornwall because usually when we used to go to Newquay we would visit other areas of Cornwall, as do most tourists.
Feel free to forward the comments onto the local council.
Chris.
