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Pembrokeshire Herald
04-05-2025
- Business
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Pembrokeshire defies Welsh tourism tax amid anti-English tensions
AS COUNCIL TAX premiums and tourist levies stir tensions, local businesses and residents weigh the cost of protecting Welsh identity against the economic lifeline of English tourism. In St Davids, the recent spring sunshine bathes flint cottages and surfing shops in golden light. But beneath the postcard-perfect surface, a quiet rebellion is taking shape. This year, Pembrokeshire County Council became the first local authority in Wales to push back against the Welsh Government's controversial tourist taxation strategy. After reducing the second home tax premium from 300 per cent to 150 per cent in October, the council announced in April that it will not implement the proposed visitor levy during its current term, which ends in 2027. The move has been praised by some as a lifeline for struggling businesses. Others fear it signals a retreat from urgently needed reforms to address the housing crisis and preserve Welsh-speaking communities. Christopher Taylor, 85, has run the St Davids Bookshop since 1974 and previously served as mayor of the city. He says the area has long relied on English second-home owners and tourists. 'Second homeowners who have been regular customers over decades are selling up,' he told The Telegraph. 'Tourists and second homeowners support jobs here, and we really can't risk seeming unwelcoming.' Chris Taylor, 85, seen here standing at the back on the right, runs a shop which is important for both tourists and locals alike (Image: YPD) St Davids, Britain's smallest city, is one of the jewels of Pembrokeshire's coastline and a magnet for both walkers and surfers. But signs of change are everywhere. Lockboxes for holiday lets now pepper the streets—dubbed 'tosau' or 'pimples' by some Welsh speakers. Grant Pratt, 38, who manages the surf shop Unsunghero, is frank in his assessment: 'It's small-minded,' he says of locals who complain about incomers. 'Incoming English families have reversed the fate of the struggling local primary school. Who wouldn't prefer to live somewhere bustling rather than full of moaning elderly Welsh folk?' Tourism remains central to the local economy. In 2023, it generated £604 million in Pembrokeshire and supported more than 9,200 full-time equivalent jobs. Yet the tone of some public discourse, particularly online, has left business owners wary of being associated with anti-English sentiment. One shopkeeper, who asked not to be named, said she feared a return to the 'dark days' of the 1980s, when arson attacks by the nationalist group Meibion Glyndŵr targeted English-owned holiday homes. Most of Twr y Felin's guest are tourists from England, the hotel said (Image: File) At the luxury art-themed hotel Twr y Felin, General Manager Emma Bowen said that 85 per cent of their clientele are English tourists aged between 50 and 70. Twr y Felin manager Emma Bowen: Wants how funds will be used to be clear While she supports the concept of a tourist tax, she insists it must be clear how the funds will be used. 'Good examples are Germany, France, and Switzerland, where tourist taxes subsidise attractions and public transport for tourists,' she said. In nearby Tenby, the impact of policy is also being felt. Lucas and Melanie Boissevain, who own the award-winning Penally Abbey Hotel, warn that mounting costs could become unsustainable. 'We've had Covid, unfair competition from unregulated Airbnbs, rising staffing, power and food bills – all with little government help,' said Lucas. 'Now come the levies that will add £6,500 a year to our operating costs.' According to Lucas, Wales has lost 50 per cent of its serviced accommodation providers over the past 15 years. 'This has been made up with a growth in Airbnb-style unserviced beds, but who wants to have a lockbox tourist economy, without breakfasts and the human touch?' Despite government aims to channel second home tax revenue into affordable housing, some critics argue that the funds haven't been used effectively. Without clear reinvestment and consultation, opposition to the levies may continue to grow. More broadly, the proposed tourism tax across Wales has drawn both fierce criticism and cautious support. Industry groups and operators argue that it risks deterring visitors, threatening jobs, and weakening local economies—especially in areas like Pembrokeshire that are heavily reliant on tourism. Some families may opt to holiday elsewhere, fearing added costs, while others may cut back on spending in local shops, cafes, and attractions. A Welsh Government consultation found that 74 per cent of people who were likely to holiday in Wales believed the tax could put them off visiting. Opposition politicians, particularly Conservatives, have branded the levy a 'toxic tourism tax' that could damage a fragile sector. But supporters—including figures in Plaid Cymru and Labour—say the proposed fee, at just £1.25 per adult per night, is modest and commonplace across Europe. They argue it would raise much-needed funds for local infrastructure, including toilets, car parks, and footpath maintenance, and help ease the pressures of overtourism. Following public feedback, the Welsh Government confirmed children will be exempt and has promised a full review of the tax's impact within four years. There will also be further consultation with businesses and communities. Across the UK, similar measures are being considered. From April 2024, three quarters of councils in England and Wales will introduce 100 per cent premiums on second homes, and some are extending these to Airbnb properties. Manchester introduced a tourist tax last year. Others, like Bournemouth, paused plans after backlash from the hospitality sector. Pembrokeshire's stance has made it a test case. With visitor numbers still recovering post-pandemic and an economy reliant on tourism, many locals are asking whether pushing away the English is a price they can afford to pay. As one visiting mother from Bath remarked while enjoying tea at Penally Abbey: 'It's lovely here, isn't it? Who really needs to get on a plane?' That sense of quiet appreciation may be Pembrokeshire's greatest asset. But it remains to be seen whether it can coexist with the cultural pressures that have driven the Welsh Government's policies—and the resistance now rising against them. This article was based on a national newspaper report in The Telegraph which can be read here.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Welsh region revolting against anti-English attitudes
In St Davids in Pembrokeshire, spring sunshine illuminates the flint cottages and surfing shops. Britain's smallest city, in a region sometimes called 'Little England', has become a key battleground in the fight for the soul of Wales – or rather, for its reputation for offering a warm welcome to outsiders. In 2017, in a UK first, the Welsh government gave local councils the power to levy up to 100 per cent council tax premiums on second homes. In 2022, it increased this to 300 per cent. And in a final volley late last year, it announced a visitor levy, to be introduced from 2026. The tourist tax will cost hotel, B&B, and self-catering property guests in Wales £1.25 per person per night. Now Pembrokeshire is the first region to revolt against the taxes that local business owners say are threatening their livelihoods. In a shock council vote in October, it reduced the second home tax premium to 150 per cent. And on April 2, it said it would flout the Welsh government and not implement any tourist taxes during its current term, which ends in May 2027. 'Second homeowners who have been regular customers over decades are selling up,' says Christopher Taylor, 85, proprietor of the St Davids Bookshop since 1974 and former mayor of St Davids. On the day of my visit, the bookshop was doing a brisk trade in Dylan Thomas reprints and walking guides. Taylor acknowledges that St Davids is littered with the tell-tale holiday-let lockboxes some Welsh speakers dub 'tosau' ('pimples'), but says 'better-targeted' measures, such as the building of homes locals can afford, would keep incomers as well as St Davidians happy. 'Frankly, tourists and second homeowners support jobs here and we really can't risk seeming unwelcoming,' he adds. Tourism supports 9,244 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in Pembrokeshire and generated £604 million for the county in 2023. 'It's small-minded,' Grant Pratt, 38, the manager of St Davids surf store Unsunghero, says of the tendency of locals to moan about tourists who keep the cash tills ringing, as well as folk from England moving to the area. 'When the Premier Inn came here [in 2022] there was this huge campaign [to stop it], even though the hotel reduces pressure on housing stock being used for holiday lets,' he says. 'Then you hear of pubs with locals-only areas, which is very silly.' Pratt points out that, rather than ruining the area, incoming English families have reversed the fate of the struggling local primary school. 'Who wouldn't prefer to live somewhere bustling rather than full of moaning elderly Welsh folk?' he adds. Another St Davids shopkeeper, who does not want to be named, says she is wary of Wales returning to the 'dark days' of the 1980s. During that decade, Meibion Glyndŵr, a paramilitary Welsh nationalist group, conducted dozens of arson attacks against English-owned holiday cottages across the country and anti-tourist sentiment ran high. At Twr y Felin, an art-themed hotel built around a former windmill on the outskirts of St Davids, a group of French 60-somethings scan the menu for Welsh white wine as English families pad through the foyer in flip-flops on their way back from White Sands Bay, a crescent of beach that lives up to its billing. The hotel is part of the Rarebits Collection, an organisation of hotels, most of which are kept afloat by English visitors. In the last figures available, Wales hosted 8.44 million overnight trips for holidaymakers from England and Scotland in 2023. General Manager Emma Bowen says Twr y Felin's clients are '85 per cent' aged 50-70 and English. That said, the hotel does support a tourist tax, Bowen adds, but only if it is '100 per cent transparent' what the money raised would be spent on. 'Good examples are Germany, France, and Switzerland, where tourist taxes subsidise attractions and public transport for use by tourists,' she says. A key criticism levelled at Wales's second homes levies is that the extra money raised, though earmarked for social housing, have not been used for this purpose. An hour's drive east in Tenby, there's no shortage of 'pimple' lockboxes accessorising the Pembrokeshire resort town's lofty Victorian facades. Just down the coast at Penally Abbey, well-heeled English holidaymakers nibble carrot cake and gaze across manicured gardens to a glittering coastline. Lucas and Melanie Boissevain bought Penally Abbey in 2014 and have since transformed this Gothic-style former monastic retreat into a stylish award-winning hotel with an acclaimed restaurant. Melanie, a former interior designer, laughingly describes the hotel's vibe as 'like you have chanced upon the home of a grand dame who has just left for Venice'. Former accountant and textile industry manager Lucas, 65, has strong feelings about Wales's treatment of tourism business owners. 'We've had Covid, unfair competition from unregulated Airbnbs, rising staffing, power and food bills – all with little government help,' he says. 'Now come the levies that will add £6,500 a year to our operating costs.' Lucas points out that the financial pressures on hotels that offer services such as restaurants and on-site staffing have been 'immense', and have led to a 50 per cent reduction in serviced accommodation operators across Wales in the last 15 years, with a 30 per cent decrease in serviced bed count. 'This has been made up with a growth in Airbnb-style unserviced beds, but who wants to have a lockbox tourist economy, without breakfasts and the human touch?' English over-50s are ever-more crucial for hotels such as Penally as arrivals from markets like the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy have not bounced back to pre-Covid levels. England's councils are now following Wales's lead, with three quarters of local authorities in England and Wales introducing a 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes from April 1, and some extending these charges to properties listed on Airbnb. Meanwhile, London is mulling over a tourist tax, following Manchester's introduction of a £1-a-night visitor charge in 2023. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have paused plans for a tourist tax after 40 hoteliers lodged a formal complaint about the proposed £2-a-night charge. Back at Penally Abbey, the Boissevains' spaniel Maude is chasing bees through spring daffodils in the grounds of property that survived the dissolution of the monasteries and a devastating fire in 2020 that forced the hotel to close for a summer. It will doubtless soldier on. In the hotel's smart sun room, I chat to a family of three holidaymakers from Bath who are looking forward to Penally's full Welsh breakfasts, and who plan to stroll across the tan sands of South Beach into Tenby for afternoon ice creams. 'It's lovely here, isn't it?' says the mum, wistfully. 'Who really needs to get on a plane?'. Maude wags her tail in assent. Doubles at Penally Abbey cost from £210 per night B&B. Doubles at Twr y Felin cost from £205 a night, B&B. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
30-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The Welsh region revolting against anti-English attitudes
In St Davids in Pembrokeshire, spring sunshine illuminates the flint cottages and surfing shops. Britain's smallest city, in a region sometimes called 'Little England', has become a key battleground in the fight for the soul of Wales – or rather, for its reputation for offering a warm welcome to outsiders. In 2017, in a UK first, the Welsh government gave local councils the power to levy up to 100 per cent council tax premiums on second homes. In 2022, it increased this to 300 per cent. And in a final volley late last year, it announced a visitor levy, to be introduced from 2026. The tourist tax will cost hotel, B&B, and self-catering property guests in Wales £1.25 per person per night. Now Pembrokeshire is the first region to revolt against the taxes that local business owners say are threatening their livelihoods. In a shock council vote in October, it reduced the second home tax premium to 150 per cent. And on April 2, it said it would flout the Welsh government and not implement any tourist taxes during its current term, which ends in May 2027. 'Second homeowners who have been regular customers over decades are selling up,' says Christopher Taylor, 85, proprietor of the St Davids Bookshop since 1974 and former mayor of St Davids. On the day of my visit, the bookshop was doing a brisk trade in Dylan Thomas reprints and walking guides. Taylor acknowledges that St Davids is littered with the tell-tale holiday-let lockboxes some Welsh speakers dub ' tosau ' ('pimples'), but says 'better-targeted' measures, such as the building of homes locals can afford, would keep incomers as well as St Davidians happy. 'Frankly, tourists and second homeowners support jobs here and we really can't risk seeming unwelcoming,' he adds. Tourism supports 9,244 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in Pembrokeshire and generated £604 million for the county in 2023. A return to the dark days? 'It's small-minded,' Grant Pratt, 38, the manager of St Davids surf store Unsunghero, says of the tendency of locals to moan about tourists who keep the cash tills ringing, as well as folk from England moving to the area. 'When the Premier Inn came here [in 2022] there was this huge campaign [to stop it], even though the hotel reduces pressure on housing stock being used for holiday lets,' he says. 'Then you hear of pubs with locals-only areas, which is very silly.' Pratt points out that, rather than ruining the area, incoming English families have reversed the fate of the struggling local primary school. 'Who wouldn't prefer to live somewhere bustling rather than full of moaning elderly Welsh folk?' he adds. Another St Davids shopkeeper, who does not want to be named, says she is wary of Wales returning to the 'dark days' of the 1980s. During that decade, Meibion Glyndŵr, a paramilitary Welsh nationalist group, conducted dozens of arson attacks against English-owned holiday cottages across the country and anti-tourist sentiment ran high. At Twr y Felin, an art-themed hotel built around a former windmill on the outskirts of St Davids, a group of French 60-somethings scan the menu for Welsh white wine as English families pad through the foyer in flip-flops on their way back from White Sands Bay, a crescent of beach that lives up to its billing. The hotel is part of the Rarebits Collection, an organisation of hotels, most of which are kept afloat by English visitors. In the last figures available, Wales hosted 8.44 million overnight trips for holidaymakers from England and Scotland in 2023. General Manager Emma Bowen says Twr y Felin's clients are '85 per cent' aged 50-70 and English. That said, the hotel does support a tourist tax, Bowen adds, but only if it is '100 per cent transparent' what the money raised would be spent on. 'Good examples are Germany, France, and Switzerland, where tourist taxes subsidise attractions and public transport for use by tourists,' she says. A key criticism levelled at Wales's second homes levies is that the extra money raised, though earmarked for social housing, have not been used for this purpose. An hour's drive east in Tenby, there's no shortage of 'pimple' lockboxes accessorising the Pembrokeshire resort town's lofty Victorian facades. Just down the coast at Penally Abbey, well-heeled English holidaymakers nibble carrot cake and gaze across manicured gardens to a glittering coastline. Lucas and Melanie Boissevain bought Penally Abbey in 2014 and have since transformed this Gothic-style former monastic retreat into a stylish award-winning hotel with an acclaimed restaurant. Melanie, a former interior designer, laughingly describes the hotel's vibe as 'like you have chanced upon the home of a grand dame who has just left for Venice '. Former accountant and textile industry manager Lucas, 65, has strong feelings about Wales's treatment of tourism business owners. 'We've had Covid, unfair competition from unregulated Airbnbs, rising staffing, power and food bills – all with little government help,' he says. 'Now come the levies that will add £6,500 a year to our operating costs.' Lucas points out that the financial pressures on hotels that offer services such as restaurants and on-site staffing have been 'immense', and have led to a 50 per cent reduction in serviced accommodation operators across Wales in the last 15 years, with a 30 per cent decrease in serviced bed count. 'This has been made up with a growth in Airbnb-style unserviced beds, but who wants to have a lockbox tourist economy, without breakfasts and the human touch?' English over-50s are ever-more crucial for hotels such as Penally as arrivals from markets like the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy have not bounced back to pre-Covid levels. Unheeded lessons England's councils are now following Wales's lead, with three quarters of local authorities in England and Wales introducing a 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes from April 1, and some extending these charges to properties listed on Airbnb. Meanwhile, London is mulling over a tourist tax, following Manchester's introduction of a £1-a-night visitor charge in 2023. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have paused plans for a tourist tax after 40 hoteliers lodged a formal complaint about the proposed £2-a-night charge. Back at Penally Abbey, the Boissevains' spaniel Maude is chasing bees through spring daffodils in the grounds of property that survived the dissolution of the monasteries and a devastating fire in 2020 that forced the hotel to close for a summer. It will doubtless soldier on. In the hotel's smart sun room, I chat to a family of three holidaymakers from Bath who are looking forward to Penally's full Welsh breakfasts, and who plan to stroll across the tan sands of South Beach into Tenby for afternoon ice creams. 'It's lovely here, isn't it?' says the mum, wistfully. 'Who really needs to get on a plane?'. Maude wags her tail in assent. Doubles at Penally Abbey cost from £210 per night B&B. Doubles at Twr y Felin cost from £205 a night, B&B.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Upstate man receives 30 years for statewide burglary spree
GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A man was sentenced to three decades in prison Thursday morning in Greenville County on charges stemming from a yearlong statewide crime spree. The 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office announced that 38-year-old Christopher Taylor, of Mauldin, pleaded guilty to charges resulting from almost 40 burglaries in 11 counties and six South Carolina judicial circuits. Officials said the crime spree ranged from July 2021 until Taylor's arrest in June 2022. It was reported that the defendant committed burglaries in Calhoun County, Spartanburg County, Greenwood County, Laurens County, Newberry County, Anderson County, Oconee County, Edgefield County, McCormick County, Greenville County and Pickens County. Investigators said Taylor had committed crimes across multiple counties for close to a year when the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office was able to use FLOCK cameras to track him after a break-in at the Pavan Food Store along Bypass 72. Detectives said when investigators questioned Taylor about the break-in, he confessed. After further questioning regarding other burglaries with similar methods, Taylor also confessed to the other break-ins across the SC counties. Taylor was sentenced to 30 years in prison following his plea. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Jazeera
12-03-2025
- Al Jazeera
Police say surfer ‘taken by shark' in Western Australia
Australian police have confirmed that a surfer who went missing was 'taken by a shark' after search and rescue teams recovered a surfboard scarred with 'bite marks' from the area of the attack. The victim – identified by Australian media as 37-year-old Steven Payne – was mauled by a shark while surfing at Wharton beach in a remote area of Western Australia, police said late on Tuesday. It marks Australia's fourth reported fatal shark attack in recent months. 'I can confirm that our search is a recovery, not a rescue,' Western Australia Police Force Senior Sergeant Christopher Taylor said, noting that the surfer's body has not been recovered. 'A surfboard with evidence of bite marks was recovered from the water,' Western Australia Police said in a separate statement on Tuesday. According to media reports, a shark was spotted just moments before the attack in the water off Wharton beach and screams were heard coming from the area where the man was surfing at about midday. Australia's 7News network said the victim was in chest-deep water about 50 metres (164 feet) from the shore with two other surfers when he was attacked. Police said the other surfers were unable to do anything to help. In February, a shark killed a 17-year-old girl swimming off an eastern Australian island, while a 28-year-old surfer was fatally bitten in South Australia a month earlier. On December 28, a shark fatally bit a 40-year-old man in the neck as he was spearfishing off Queensland.
