Llangollen restaurant triumphs at the tourism Oscars

The Three Eagles Bar and Grill’s successful transformation to provide an outdoor dining offer won them the Go Taste of North Wales award, sponsored by Bwydlyn Butchery.

Restaurant manager Lydia Davies said: “We’ve got a really good team here doing lots of hours and their hard work has paid off.

“We made a really big change because we wanted the bar and grill to be more accessible and we’ve opened up our outdoor space which has really helped us because as well as our regulars we’ve got lots of visitors coming in.

“We get lots of walkers and cyclists and people walking their dogs and Llangollen itself is a great attraction and an outdoorsy place.”

The Three Eagles received its accolade at the Go North Wales Tourism Awards, a glittering event at Venue Cymru in Llandudno sponsored by leading food distribution company, Harlech Foodservice, and hosted by journalist Sian Lloyd who hails from Wrexham.

The occasion was also a 30th anniversary celebration for organiser North Wales Tourism which was founded in 1990 and now represents more than 1,500 members across the region.

Denbighshire winners were: Thornley Leisure Parks Go Holiday Park of the Year, Marine Holiday Park, Rhyl; Pero Foods Ltd Go Pet Friendly Award, Y Shed, Meliden; Bwydlyn Butchery Go Taste of North Wales Award, Three Eagles Bar and Grill, Llangollen; Design To Print Go Activity of the Year, Mynydd Sleddog Adventures, Llyn Brenig and Alwen Reservoir.

Chair of the judges Jim Jones, the chief executive of North Wales Tourism, the amount of investment going into improving the infrastructure of the tourism and hospitality sector was a vote of confidence in the future of the industry in North Wales.

He said that before the pandemic, the tourism industry was flying with the overall income generated increasing to an all-time high of £3.6 billion in 2019 when the number of visitors rocketed to nearly 37 million.

After a massive slump, the staycation boom this summer showed that North Wales was still a hugely popular destination for holidaymakers.

“Like everybody else, the tourism industry has endured an absolute nightmare over the past 20 months and, because of the nature of the business, our sector was disproportionately affected during the lockdown periods," he said.

“I would like to congratulate the winners and the other finalists tonight because was they have achieved is utterly remarkable, particularly under the most difficult of circumstances.

“I would also like to stress that all the nominees are playing an absolutely vital role in leading the economic recovery here in North Wales and I would like to thank them for their incredible ongoing contribution.”