We visit Rhyl's new seafront food hall and pick the biggest queue

North Wales Live

26-07-2025

The new Queen's Market in Rhyl has officially opened its doors to the pubic. The long-awaited development includes 16 individual food and retail units, a double-sided theme bar and a large events space, and promises to be an integral community space right in the heart of Rhyl.
The food hall and market cost over £12m to develop and received funding from the Welsh Government, largely through its transforming towns programme. The project has also received funding from the UK Government and by Denbighshire County Council.
The new glass fronted building certainly looks sleek and contemporary with a mezzanine for additional seating, alongside a nod to the past with a mural, which shows how Queens Street used to look like in days gone by.
The venue looks well set up to host a variety of live entertainment and events with a full-size stage and tv screens showing live sport around the venue. However, it was the delicious aroma drifting from the food courts, which we were interested in testing out today.
The list of independent vendors is certainly impressive, with a choice that will unquestionably please the fussiest of families. Bad burgers and dirty dogs offer a range of handmade smash burgers and gourmet hotdogs with a variety of fully loaded fries and a range of soft drinks.
Go Greek offer a full range of traditional Greek food with souvlaki, halloumi fries and Greek desserts. There is a noodle bar called Kumo Ramen alongside a wide range of Thai food including red and green curries and pad Thai from Kinn Kinn.
Fans of pizza won't be disappointed with freshy made, hand-stretched, stone-baked pizzas, from Little Italy pizza Rhyl. Wrapped and loaded offer artisan wraps, with high protein fillings, whilst Street Pot cook up Caribbean delights and feature dishes such as jerk chicken, jerk curry, rice and peas, and fried plantain.
Pudz Ice Cream rolls dish out ice cream rolls, freshly made waffles and crepes, which can be topped with classic toppings such as fresh fruit, chocolate, cream and more, as well as their famous fresh milkshakes. Donat DWT, entice you with a full range of glazed and filled donuts.
You can wash it all down with spill the beans, who serve up freshly ground coffee, a choice of artisan tea as well as pastries and cake favourites. The full-service bar, which provides drinks for both the events area and the market space is named 'The Spirit of Rhyl' and run by Spirit of Wales distillery, where visitors can even make their own flavoured gin.
Now, where do you start with such a vast list of options. The different sweet and savory aromas from each of the vendors played havoc with my senses. We decided to go for the one with the biggest queue, as that was surely a good sign? Although all the vendors looked pretty busy to be fair.
Go Greek had a number of pitta wraps, kebabs and special boxes on the menu, which was certainly attracting the customers. When you think of Greek food you probably think of the delicious Greek chicken gyros. Vendors line the streets in all the Greek cities with their vertical rotisserie of meat (either pork or chicken)
The name gyro comes from the Greek word for 'turn': the meat is usually cooked on a vertical spit. We ordered a special chicken gyro box for £10, which included fries, salad and tzatziki.
They give you a buzzer that will light up and vibrate when your food is ready. I kept staring at the buzzer in anticipation but still got started, when it actually went off. It only took about 10 minutes for order to be ready and that was with a fairly big queue. Our plan was to share the Greek box between the two of us and then grab a cake and drink from a different vendor.
The generous Greek portion was easily enough for two people, especially for a lunch time meal. The chicken thighs were marinated and tasted succulent and juicy. The salad consisted of shredded lettuce, tomato, and thinly sliced onion. Tzatziki is one of the most common dips you'll find in Greek cuisine. The cucumber yogurt dip really added a bit of zing to the dish. I could see why the kiosk was proving such a huge hit.
Go Greek had desserts such as Baklava or Portokalopita, which is a very popular orange cake. However, in the interest of trying a different vendor, we headed to 'spill the beans' for coffee and cake.
Spill the beans had a variety of hot or cold drinks with a small cake menu. The cakes included the usual traditional fare of Victoria sponges, lemon drizzle and tiffin. After a bit of hesitation, I opted for a crunchie brownie, which was surprisingly dense and gooey with a layer of honeycomb on the top.
My wife went for her usual fruit scone with lashings of jam and cream, and was certainly not disappointed. She washed it down with a small americano with hot milk, whilst I went for the intriguingly titled 'mango and dragon fruit' drink. It turned out to be a bit like a blue passionfruit squash but it did the job of quenching my first after the rich chocolate brownie.
The place was very busy with a real buzz in the air, helped as it was the start of the summer holidays. We walked around the vendors and noticed Aber falls gin and Conwy brewery were selling their wares, alongside a sweet shop and a soon to be opened sandwich kiosk. Upstairs, there were dart boards, shuffleboards and table top football games to entertain the whole family.
The new 'Queens Market' offers a variety of street food from independent vendors, all under one brand new shiny roof. The designers have a done a good job of preserving its proud past whilst embracing the future. These kinds of Artisan markets have done well in other parts of the country, and I must admit, I was more than impressed with the entertainment options and variety of choice on offer in the revitalized food courts of the Queens Market.
The Facts
Go Greek Special Box £10
Sill The Beans coffee
Scone £4.00
Brownie £3.75
Americano £3.35
Mango and Dragon refresher £3.75
£14.85
Opening Times:
Monday to Saturday 10am to 10pm
Sunday 10am to 8pm
Atmosphere- Busy and buzzing due to the start of the summer holidays
Car Parking- We managed to get the last spot available in a rather small car park to the right of the building £1.50.
Disabled Access- Full disabled access and toilets.
Service- Order at your vendor of choice and grab a buzzer
Overall- We tested the food courts at the brand new revitalized 'Queens Market' in Rhyl.
Queens Market
Sussex Street
Rhyl