An area of the North Wales coast became home to thousands of makeshift shacks, including entire families living in old buses without electricity or running water.

Once described in a newspaper as the "slum by the sea", the now stunning "paradise" of Talacre Beach is regarded as a wildlife haven with far-reaching golden sands. Today it's a popular spot for holidaymakers but Talacre's Beach Resort couldn't have had humbler origins.

Talacre's history has been shaped by its location at the mouth of the Dee Estuary and Liverpool Bay. Its first holiday chalets were built on The Warren – an area of uncultivated land near the beach – in the early 1930s.

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Following the outbreak of World War Two, the chalets on The Warren became filled with evacuees fleeing bombing raids targeting Merseyside for its docks and shipyards. As the attacks intensified during The Blitz of 1941, more and more upended families arrived in the village.

Without enough chalets to accommodate the evacuees, people began building makeshift huts, while others made their homes by repurposing old caravans, railway carriages and buses. The Warren became a registered camp during the war, despite the lack of amenities like electricity and running water.

Many of its new residents were lone mums with their children, trying to build a life away from the target cities of Liverpool and Manchester – their husbands away fighting or still living in the city to work.

One evacuee family speaking to the Flintshire, Mold and Buckley Chronicle in 2004, included Anita Marsden, 66, and her sister, Cynthia Craig, 63. They spent their childhoods in Talacre after their father told their mum to leave Liverpool for fear they would be victims of the bombing raids while he stayed to work at the docks.

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The sisters recalled growing up at the camp with no electricity, running water or flushing toilets during the war years. Anita said: "‘My main worry was that my dad was still in Liverpool during the raids. I remember at night that in Talacre it was completely black with no lights in the sky, but in Liverpool there was a great big glow from the bombs and the search lights."

However, despite fleeing the bombings of their home city's, the war was still ever present even in Talacre. In the daytime, RAF pilots used the sand dunes for target practice, firing on wooden targets near the beach.

After the war ended, some of the chalets became permanent family homes for the camp's residents. Holidaymakers also returned to The Warren, which became a magical playground away from the towns and cities for generations of children.

Family living in a converted on The Warren in Talacre. June 27, 1959
Family living in a converted on The Warren in Talacre. June 27, 1959

By the end of the 1950s, the lack of proper amenities and what were seen as poor conditions at the camp became a running joke with comedians of the day, and started to attract negative press. In June 1959, the Daily Herald newspaper ran a story warning prospective holidaymakers not to be duped into booking a holiday at the North Wales "shanty town".

The journalist said unsuspecting holidaymakers "won't know until they arrive that they've booked for a slum by the sea," calling the The Warren a "shanty town in which sheds, shacks and bus bodies predominate."

The report added that the whole of the beach had been declared "unsafe for bathing" and was a place without proper sanitation, electricity, or an adequate water supply. Repeated use of the term "shanty town" in the press to describe the location didn't go down well with some.

Run down coaches and buses which have been converted into accommodation at Talacre Beach, two miles from Prestatyn. June 27, 1959
Run down coaches and buses which have been converted into accommodation at Talacre Beach, two miles from Prestatyn. June 27, 1959

In 1964, one councillor angrily told Llanasa Parish Council that they should object to the use of the terminology, adding: "Talacre is now a modern village with lighting and running water. The shanty town – The Warren – belongs to a private owner."

Talacre Beach Resort first opened in the 1960s, then called Morfa Holiday Camp, with some of the first holiday home owners still using self-contained shacks along the beach. As the 1960s progressed, many of the makeshift chalets including the old buses, were cleared as caravan parks were developed.

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By 1973, the last of the old chalets were removed from the dunes as the resort continued to grow in popularity. These days, Talacre remains a popular destination for day trips and family holidays, with the dunes and coast now regarded as internationally important wildlife habitats and a Special Area of Scientific Interest, with a population of protected newts and natterjack toads living in the dunes.

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