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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Aamir Mohammed & John Cooper

How Wales' beaches looked as this year's temperature record broken again

Wales enjoyed another scorching hot day as people flocked to local beauty spots, beaches and parks.

Temperatures hit 31.4C - just missing the record for the hottest ever June day of 33.7C set in 2000 - as people enjoyed the last day of this mini heatwave.

Jake Peterson, manager at Cadwaladers on Barry Island, said there has been a huge increase in business recently.

He said: "We opened up around five weeks ago and it's been crazy so far because when we opened, it was just us and another chip shop on the island.

"We have been smashing our budgets and there have been queues every single day. The heatwave has also helped that of course and it's meant that we can bring back four staff from furlough.

"If you look out on to the island it is so busy and there's hundreds of people. I've never seen so many cars here and the beach is also packed, but most people are sticking to the social distancing measures."

In England, a major incident was declared as thousands flocked to beaches and leaders urged people to stay away from busy beaches.

Sue Salton, of Porthcawl's Digital Marketing Consultancy (DMC), said: "The beaches in Porthcawl are absolutely crazy today. There's hundreds of cars and the car parks are re-open, traffic is horrendous and you just can't get anywhere.

"Most people seem to be social distancing but it's crazy as the amount of people that are out and about, you'd think lockdown is over."

Barry Island was packed (WALES NEWS SERVICE)
(WALES NEWS SERVICE)
People also travelled to the beach in Porthcawl (Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)
There was lots of socially-distanced sunbathing at Caswell Bay (Mark Lewis)
Caswell Bay was idyllic (Adrian White)

Joe's Ice Cream, in Mumbles, also enjoyed another day of serving customers ice cream, many of those who had to queue for a long time.

Manager Stephen Peter said traffic in the area has gone up by at least 30% and said people haven't been sticking to the five mile guidance.

He said: "Traffic in the area is crazy and you can see people are coming from everywhere. We even had customers from Bristol which we just couldn't understand.

"Since the start of this week, we have operated a takeaway system rather than a click and collect and locals have been really understanding of this.

"Unfortunately, you'll always get people who break social distancing measures which is understandable but the majority of the locals have been great."

Beaches in England were far busier than they were in Wales: This was the scene in Brighton

(Jonathan Buckmaster)
(Jonathan Buckmaster)

And this was Bournemouth

(Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
(Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

Formby, Liverpool was also packed

(Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)

Elsewhere in Barry, handcrafted gift shop, Homemade Wales, said business on the high street hasn't been great.

Owner Fay Blakeley, said: "It has been pretty quiet on the high street so far because people are generally at the beach or they're on the high street, they aren't really doing both.

"Some people have been coming in but we're just adapting to this new normal. We're running on reduced staff which is fine because there aren't a lot of people shopping right now."

One business who wishes they could open are Waffle n Shake in Porthcawl.

Serving fresh ice creams and waffles, owner Susan Jones can't open the family business as her husband has been told he must shield until August.

She said: "It's a family run business and I can't open right now which is sad because obviously we've lost out on a lot of business.

"I run the shop with my husband and grandson and both can't work right now so we've got no choice but to close.

"It's sad because Porthcawl is really busy right now and we're missing out on a lot of customers."

Thursday is set to be the last day of the warm weather as Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Matthew Lehnert, said the thunderstorms are "expected to bring an end to the very warm and sunny weather.”

The warning applies to the majority of the Wales, and is set to last until 9am on Friday.

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