Serious ice cream in Rhyl – often licked, never beaten!

If you were a serious ice cream aficionado in Rhyl in the sixties there were two go to venues. The first was Sidoli’s Café on Wellington Road, which thankfully is still with us and largely unchanged from the establishment I remember and which featured in our Easter Monday family adventures. They served a delicious made on the premises ice cream, which was exactly as my mum and her mum remembered.

If you were on the promenade the best ice cream was served at Clwyd Ice Cream. This was sold at a couple of kiosks on the promenade and the one shown was the larger of the two. It had three serving windows and there would be queues at each one in the height of the summer. The kiosk was well placed as it intercepted the pathway of visitors who had heading up the High Street from either their coach car park or the railway station. It was a last chance to purchase an ice cream, before arriving at the beach and the first place you arrived at coming off the beach – an ideal pitch.

The ice cream itself was unusual in texture. It had a real home-made farmy, creamy taste and hidden within the ice cream were often crystals of ice.  I’ve tasted nothing quite so distinctive in ice cream ever since, and doubt I ever will. That taste is synonymous with long summer days for me.

This picture is of the seventies and definitely precedes 1973 when the pier was demolished. This is a scene from any sunny summer’s day in Rhyl and I smile to return to those days.  Often licked – never beaten indeed!

The picture appeared on Facebook and was un-credited.