FIVE beachfront kiosks that closed earlier this month will be removed from the town in July. 

The kiosks, four of which are located by the Rhyl SeaQuarium, and one near SC2, closed on June 4.

Denbighshire County Council said the buildings have to be removed in order to deliver the scheme Coastal Defences Scheme. The Central Rhyl scheme is ongoing [the East Rhyl project has been completed].

The local authority has now confirmed that if the kiosks are reinstated in the future, tenants will have first refusal, but this will be a "time limited offer".

In an interview with the Journal, Tony Ward, Corporate Director for Economy and Environment at Denbighshire County Council, said: "Unfortunately we are in a position where we are going to have remove the kiosks to deliver the flood defence scheme. The flood defence scheme is obviously essential and in order to protect the town, residents, businesses, and tourists and to ensure we have a sustainable town in future. 

"Unfortunately with these [the kiosks] we can't keep them where they are because the new sea wall on the promenade is about one and a half metres higher than what we currently have and that is a problem for the kiosks, so they do need to be removed."

Mr Ward confirmed there is an "option" that the kiosks could be rebuilt in the future.

"There is an option for that," he said. 

"No decisions have been made about whether the kiosks will be rebuilt in the future but there are two things really that are important here. 

"The first thing is that we have negotiated with the leaseholders to relinquish their leases on the kiosks, so this has all been done in agreement with the leaseholders. We have been engaging with them for a long time.

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"If we do build the kiosks in the future the current leaseholders have got the first option to run those kiosks."

Mr Ward added that the council would "rather not remove the kiosks" but stated it was "impossible" to do the work with them in place. 

The kiosks, which are owned by Denbighshire County Council and were leased to tenants, have been in Rhyl for more than 50 years.