The I’m A Celebrity mad North Wales towns expecting ‘mega’ tourism boom

All across Abergele, the I’m A Celebrity buzz shows no signs of abating.

Everywhere there are nods to the programme: giant bugs adorning walls, small bugs on plates, and Ant and Dec peering out from countless shop windows.

What could have been a slightly tacky homage to the ITV juggernaut ultimately became a community-affirming exhibition of local creativity and pride.

The town’s celebration of Gwrych Castle, its new celebrity neighbour, has turned the spotlight back on itself. Abergele is now firmly on the VIP map and there is an expectation of better things to come.

Julie Bright, manager of the town’s Pen-y-bont Inn, said the programme’s switch to North Wales, from its usual home in Australia, had “put a smile on everyone’s faces”.

Just like this year’s giant love-in at the castle, the feel-good mood has been a boost to local morale.

 “Out of the darkness of the Covid pandemic, something good has come to North Wales,” said Julie.

“I’m convinced there will be long-term benefits for the castle and surrounding area.

“People will want to visit the Castle Pub and Kiosk Cledwyn’s shop, and see where Any and Dee stood during filming.

“It’s like a piece of entertainment history.”

Locals have really embraced the show. At Bromborough Paints, a grinning Ant and Dec are wearing decorators’ overalls while the barber shop, A Cut Above, has them wielding scissors with the slogan, “Who’s next for the chop?”

At Flamingo Babywear the cheeky Geordies are wearing cute baby outfits, while the Ready Grass car park has giant, inflatable Ant and Decs next to a newly minted throne.

Gwrych’s blue-blood ghost, the Countess of Dundonald, features prominently too: for the time being the White Lady has relocated to eight locations the town, including the library and next to the police station.

The life-size apparitions are part of an IAC-inspired arts trail designed to “inform, raise smiles and leave a lasting legacy in Abergele”.

It’s one of the reasons Conwy Council features on IAC’s closing credits. Before the show aired, the council ordered in its street cleaners, and Abergele has never looked so good.

Cllr Goronwy Edwards, the council’s cabinet member for economic development, is certain the benefits will be mutual.

“Local companies and suppliers have gained contracts for everything from transport to providing accommodation for the large production crew,” he said.

“And there will be a longer term benefit of bringing the attention of television audiences to Gwrych Castle, the area of Abergele and North Wales as a whole.”

Nowhere has IAC-mania being more charged that at the Pen-y-bont Inn.

It too has a Countess ghost, shining serenely from an upstairs window.

For the past month the pub has been offering a £5 bushtucker platter with a mini locust burger and a crispy-chocolate mealworm cake, washed down with a “jungle cocktail” of milk, crickets and jalapeño chillies. 

Those that managed to finish it got a free glass of wine. A few managed it, many didn’t. Some called for a bucket, a few were too late.

Bush-chucker diners also got a chance to grab a selfie with “Kiosk Keith”, complete with ranger hat, stick-on moustache and life-sized cut-outs of Ant and Dec next to a potted palm.

He’s been in demand. Visitors from as far as Cardiff have drawn to the pub by the chance to down crickets and mealworms.

Last week a group of adults with learning disabilities arrived in custom T-shirts and Aussie cork hats, all eager to take on the challenge and pose for photos.

All selfie-takers were invited to donate to a bar-top charity box in aid of the Osbourne Trust, a Rhyl-based charity that supports children whose parents are being treated for cancer.

“Kiosk Keith has become a bit of a celebrity himself,” sighed pub manager Julie Bright, worried that the pub’s head chef will get carried away by all the attention. Keith, after all, is her husband.

“But it’s been fantastic. The show has been great for the town but also for the whole of North Wales, and hopefully the visitors will be back in future.”

Abergele’s gain has been Dungay Creek’s loss. Over the past two decades IAC’s traditional home, in the forests of New South Wales, Australia, has yielded considerable finance benefits for Murwillumbah near the Queensland border.

Figures are hard to come by, but during the show’s early days its makers had an annual spend of $3.8m (£2.1m) on the UK version alone.

The programme employed 300 Australians and pumped tens of thousands of dollars into local hardware stores, hotels, motels and even crane operators.

While the immediate dividend for North Wales may be less significant, the long-term impact may be considerable. There’s even been talk of a Game of Thrones effect, which brought fans flocking to Northern Ireland.

When news broke of the programme’s relocation to Conwy, Jim Jones, chief executive of North Wales Tourism, said he could safely pack away his marketing budget for the whole of November. December too, probably.

Publicity generated by the show, he said, would be worth its weight in gold.

What has transpired since has been everything he had hoped for, and more.

Even if Sir Mo Farah did struggle to locate Wales on a map.

“The series has really portrayed Abergele and the whole of North Wales in a positive light,” said Jim.

“Its producers have handled the location sensitively, in terms of the Welsh language, food, place names and culture.

“They brought the region to an audience beyond our usual target market in the north west of England.”

It remains to be seen whether IAC tourist trails and visitor attractions spring up in the programme’s wake.

Much may depend on whether ITV returns to Conwy next year. There are whispers it might.

Best placed to capitalise will be the castle itself. Millions are still needed if the place is to be fully restored, but it has the potential to be a premier visitor destination, said Jim.

“This castle is AMAZING,” tweeted Victoria Derbyshire, as if to prove the point.

At The Gift Shop in Abergele, space has been set aside for castle merchandise, including mugs, fridge magnets and copies of the official Gwrych guide.

All proceeds go to the castle’s Preservation Trust, so shop owner Tracey Brennan doesn’t make a penny from them. Even so, sales of her own shop stock rocketed 176% in November.

Sales were also up more than 15% at her other business, The Veg Shop, where Ant and Dec cut-outs are holding up leeks, declaring, “I’m a vegetable, get me out of here”.

“It shows that there has been increased footfall in the town since the show began,” said Tracey, chair of the Abergele Association of Traders.

“The impression I get is that other businesses have also seen an uplift. I was in Raymond’s Cafe this morning and they feel they have been busier in recent weeks.

“People couldn’t get to the castle, so they came to Abergele instead.”

Visitors in her gift shop have included a South Wales couple on a two-day IAC pilgrimage. Tracey feels sure there would have been many more but for the cross-border travel ban.

“I’m hoping that when people return to their caravans next year, they will want to visit the castle and the surrounding area,” she said.

“But, if nothing else, this whole I’m A Celebrity experience has lifted everyone’s spirits in the area.”

If first impressions count, many of this year’s celebrities will themselves be returning to North Wales.

Launched on Anglesey, the series began with a shot of a wide-eyed Vernon Kay looking out from a windswept cliff top towards Trwyn Du lighthouse, rainbow in the distance.

“Mega!” he said, and the island’s tourism bosses swooned.

“From a tourism perspective, to have such a popular television programme filming here was great,” said Michael Thomas, Anglesey Council’s senior development officer for tourism and marketing.

“This exposure has really created a buzz locally and will certainly help our tourism businesses and the future of tourism on Anglesey and across North Wales.”

One disappointment for Jim Jones was the belated decision by broadcaster RTL to shelve plans for Ich bin ein Star IAC’s German equivalent had been due to relocate to Gwrych Castle in January.

Well-heeled German tourists, said Jim, are prime targets for North Wales marketeers. He even posted a German language tourist brochure to ITV in the hope the region’s landscapes and culture would vow RTL producers.

Perhaps the next series of Ich bin ein Star will be set in Conwy. Certainly, that’s the rumour. In the meantime, said Jim, there is much going on in North Wales to raise the region’s international profile.

“Llandudno’s invasion by feral goats during the spring lockdown got global media attention,” he said.

“Then we had Wrexham AFC’s takeover by Hollywood stars, which will continue producing headlines.

“Even Boris Johnson’s visit to Wrexham, to visit the factory producing Covid vaccines, was good news for the region.”

So too were the bicker-free campfire chats at Gwrych Castle, and outpourings of mutual affection, that marked out this year’s IAC series.

“It reinforced the impression that North Wales always gives a warm and friendly welcome,” said Jim.

An unhappy postscript for the Pen-y-Bont Pub was Mark Drakesford’s booze ban and 6pm curfew, which began on Friday.

The decision killed Julie and Kiosk Keith’s end-of-season IAC party, at which they’d planned to hand out free bottles of bubbly to super fans.

They’ve also been left with piles of ordered-in food, not all of which will squeeze into the pub’s freezers, and will have to be binned. The Christmas season is close to being spoiled too.

Not surprisingly, the pub was among those which banned the First Minister from entering their premises for the next 18 months.

“We were worried about getting post-show blues,” said Julie. “And then this happened.

“I was, and still am, furious. I just hope we are still around next year to welcome back our I’m A Celebrity fans.”

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