By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor
IT'S so tediously easy to say that somewhere in Britain that's seen better times is "like Beirut".
Colwyn Bay town councillor Gwyn Hughes said as much in a council debate on Monday, likening Abergele Road in Colwyn Bay to the troubled Lebanese city. He admits that his comments were throwaway, but sticks by what he said - that the fact there are a number of boarded-up buildings there, and a post office under threat of closure, makes it like a war-torn Middle Eastern city that has actually managed to stage an impressive economic turnaround since the civil war.
The 2006 Lebanon "July War" might have set it back once more, but it's no longer as easy to justify likening a deprived area of Britain to this tenacious capital city.
I find it tiresome when people roll out the old "looks like Beirut" comment because it could be perceived as pretty disrespectful to the 200,000 people who lost their lives or were injured in Beirut during the conflict. There was a distressingly good reason why Beirut got the reputation for destruction that it did, and Colwyn Bay cannot boast a similar history of death and destruction.
Colwyn Bay might have its problems, but come on... they're nowhere near as serious as those faced by the Lebanese in the 1990s and 21st century.
The ironic thing about this story is that Cllr Hughes is Bay of Colwyn Town Council's representative on the Bay Life Initiative regeneration panel. So if those charged with trying to turn around Colwyn Bay's fortunes are going to be that negative, how can we expect any movement on the issue?
Beirut has a rich and impressive cultural history that is capitalised upon in its many museums, tourist attractions and Ottoman and Arabesque architecture. It is a vibrant city with both horror and splendour in its past, and perhaps Colwyn Bay could learn something from how it gets back up, dusts itself down and forges fresh fortunes every time it's knocked back.
It was poor town planning that destroyed Colwyn Bay, not civil war.
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