AS work appears to be taking place at the former paddling pool on Aberystwyth promenade, the Cambrian News has taken a look back at the fall from grace of the former attraction.

Ceredigion County Council's Plaid Cymru cabinet this week green-lighted plans to scrap scores of parking spaces along the southern end of the promenade, with the plan to use part of a £10.8 million grant from the UK government, secured in 2021, to install a cycle path along the promenade.

This grant, the Plaid Cymru councillors say, applies to the promenade from the harbour to the pier.

The northern end of the promenade however has seen little investment, privately or publicly since the building of the new bandstand in 2016.

The Belle Vue remains boarded up and the town's former paddling pool is a shadow of its former self.

The pool was a huge draw for locals and tourists alike over the years, providing hundreds of children somewhere to splash free of charge on sunny days.

It has however been closed for a number of years after safety concerns were raised over the integrity of the sea wall beneath and it filled with sand in 2018.

The sand pit area was then reduced in size in 2021.

In recent weeks the site has looked battered and unloved with broken paving slabs and shingle scattered over the former jewel in the crown on Aberystwyth's seafront.

Work appears to be taking place with the site now being cleared in preparation for another year of a small sandpit, metres from the beach.

The question is, will future generations ever get to enjoy a splash on the prom?