- 20/08/2013
- Posted by: Ken Skates MS
- Category: News
CLWYD SOUTH AM KEN SKATES is hoping an upcoming TV show will provide a welcome boost for Llangollen.
The Hairy Bikers – otherwise known as chefs Si King and Dave Myers – filmed the third episode of their current television series in the town.
The series explores heritage restoration schemes and the programme, which will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Sunday (August 25), features the pair’s visit to the Llangollen Railway to help with a new locomotive project which seeks to rebuild an extinct Great Western express freight engine nicknamed the Night Owl.
Labour AM Ken Skates believes the TV exposure is good news for Llangollen, which is home to his constituency office.
He said: “Llangollen already has a booming tourism industry due to its rich heritage and how much it has to offer visitors, which is why it is regularly the subject of television programmes and documentaries, and I welcome this further exposure.
“Sunday night’s Hairy Bikers episode is yet another opportunity for people from outside the area to see how much Llangollen and North Wales as a whole has to offer.
“I understand the stars of the show very much enjoyed their visit, and I am looking forward to seeing the programme showcase our region to the wider world.”
The Night Owls were a batch of nine large locomotives which mainly operated fast freights to London during the night. They are remembered by local rail enthusiasts for their appearance through Wrexham in the late evening until the 1960s on the freight trains conveying livestock from Birkenhead.
Llangollen Railway Trust spokesman George Jones said the trailer for Sunday’s episode shows the two presenters riding on the footplate of a locomotive in the town and enjoying a hearty breakfast cooked on the shovel heated in the engine’s firebox.
