The park by Llyn Padarn, the stunning lake at the foot of Snowdon, is full to overflowing as the late afternoon sun shimmers off the water and the mountains beyond. Tourists from all over the world flock to the resort of Llanberis to marvel at its natural beauty, and most enjoy the holiday of a lifetime. But scratch the surface and that famous welcome in the hillsides might be wearing a little thin. Dotted around the park on the back of parking ticket machines and signs are stickers bearing sinister messages for the tourists, clearly intended to send them packing.
One, which has appeared only recently, rekindles the cottage-burning Welsh nationalist terrorist campaign of Meibion Glyndwr (sons of Glyndwr) in the 80s and early 90s, shows a blazing house with the blunt message: ‘F*** your second home’. Another shows an Airbnb logo with a noose around it, proclaiming ‘Death to Airbnb’. There are many tell-tale patches where other stickers have been removed, but, like the tourists they profess to hate, the vile messages keep coming back.
Others say: Nid yw Cymru ar Werth or ‘Wales is not for sale’ The second home anti squad have started putting up these stickers which rekindles the cottage-burning Welsh nationalist terrorist campaign of Meibion Glyndwr (sons of Glyndwr) in the 80s and early 90s, shows a blazing house with the blunt message: ‘F*** your second home’ Anti English sentiment is running high in parts of North Wales with ‘F*** off Saeson’ (the Welsh word for the English) sprayed on a road in Treffriw, Conwy Valley, by what’s believed to be an anti English anti Holiday home welsh nationalist No-one admits putting these messages up, but plenty of people tacitly agree with the sentiments behind them, mainly, they say, because of the unaffordability of local homes because of the burgeoning rental market.
And the policy-makers at Gwynedd Council in Caernarvon have taken the protests to heart, it seems, imposing punitive taxes on those who provide accommodation for the tourists or own second homes in rural Wales And in Conwy Valley, someone daubed on a road last month: ‘F*** off, Saeson’ (the Welsh word for the English). No-one admits putting these messages up, but plenty of people tacitly agree with the sentiments behind them, mainly, they say, because of the unaffordability of local homes because of the burgeoning rental market. And the policy-makers at Gwynedd Council in Caernarvon have taken the protests to heart, it seems, imposing punitive taxes on those who provide accommodation for the tourists or own second homes in rural Wales.
Owners of holiday lets and Airbnbs have been hit by huge council tax demands as the Welsh government tries to make having a second home there less attractive. In a decision aimed at driving out second homeowners, they have introduced a rule that owners whose properties are occupied (whether by themselves or paying guests) for fewer than 182 days have to pay council tax of up to 300%. Holiday let owners, who rent their properties for more than the 182-day threshold, are subjected to business rates, which is lower than the punitive rates of council tax. But in a further kick in the teeth to second homeowners, and those running holiday lets, the rules have been backdated to the previous year, meaning forcing them to pay even higher premiums backdated from 12 months earlier.
Another pro independence for Wales organisation, had stuck their stickers over lamp posts in Pwllheli, pushing there no English interference as they call it Many owners were caught off guard because they assumed the rules would only apply going forward. Opponents claim the council tax clampdown on second homes and holiday lets has fuelled the hate campaign against English owners. Campaigner Glenis Bisson, 76, said: ‘Without a doubt, there is a growing anti-English feeling because of the housing situation. ‘Welsh nationalism is on the rise. They are angry and feel that the English are selling to the English. ‘They thought that these council tax and Article 4 measures would suddenly allow them to buy cheap housing but it’s nonsense. ‘They whole thing has backfired.’ The mother-of-four added: ‘There have been posters being put up around a few months back with houses on fire in Pwllheli.
They were using the same emblem that was used for the as they did for the Free Wales Army back in the 1980s. ‘They were put on all the lampposts in Pwllheli and wherever they could stick them. ‘It is just the attitude of the nationalists that is hardening not the normal Welsh people. ‘A lot of them are angry and horrified by all this. There is a lot of stress around the housing situation.’ shows an Airbnb logo with a noose around it, proclaiming ‘Death to Airbnb’ The anti English holiday home owners sign, ‘f*** your second home’ that has been classed as racist by some, was seen on the back of a sign in Llanberis Gwynedd One sign said ‘rhowch wen i gymru rydd’, meaning ‘give a smile to a free Wales’ Meanwhile this week, a shadowy Welsh nationalist youth movement, called Mudiad Eryr Wen whose members prefer to stay anonymous, released a statement railing against ‘the cancer’ of second homes and the rapid process of anglicisation caused by an ‘influx’ of English speakers. An unnamed representative from Mudiad Eryr Wen said: ‘The encroachment of second homes in places like Borth is hollowing out our communities, driving locals from their family homes, and replacing them with husks that stand lifeless for most of the year.
This creeping cancer is stripping our communities of their character, weakening the bonds that hold us together, and turning our nation into a vast holiday resort for the wealthy few. Therefore, we remind them: ‘Cenedl nid Gwesty.’ [a nation, not a hotel]. They added: ‘We will not stand by while small-minded anglophiles drag our language toward extinction. ‘We will not stop until the process of anglicisation is halted, and utterly reversed.’ Among its ‘ten principles’, the group stated: ‘Holiday lets and second homes, belonging to either Welsh or outsider, should be rendered economically untenable.’
And what of the tourists who flock to Wales? Does all this make them feel like spending their hard-earned cash somewhere else? The Mail spoke to several in Llanberis and on the coast at Pwllheli Sharon Wainwright, 54 and her daughter Poppy, 16 from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, bought a static caravan at Abersoch near Pwllheli in 2019, near where football stars Wayne Rooney and Kyle Walker are also owners at the Warren, an exclusive development nearby. Owners of holiday lets and Airbnbs have been hit by huge council tax demands as the Welsh government tries to make having a second home there less attractive. Pictured: Pwllheli marina Holiday let owners, who rent their properties for more than the 182-day threshold, are subjected to business rates, which is lower than the punitive rates of council tax Sharon said: ‘I’ve never had direct animosity from people but one of our friends on the caravan site has.
‘She told us that her son broke his wrist playing and when she took him to the local hospital the doctor was quite rude about them being ‘a drain’ on the Welsh NHS, which upset them, and they went home early. ‘You occasionally see these stickers with their anti-English sentiment, but I think it’s a small minority of people who feel that way. ‘Having said that, I understand their point that it’s hard for young people to afford to live in these places, but the answer surely has to be to provide housing that’s only for locals – don’t take it out on the tourists who are bringing money to the area and providing jobs.
‘But there are other things going on like closing local schools and if they do that, they drive people away into the bigger towns and cities.’ Poppy, who works part-time in a local café in the upmarket seaside resort of Abersoch, said her local friends admitted that tourism isn’t without its benefits. ‘They don’t like all the traffic jams that the tourists cause and they’re not keen on having so many people around all the time, but then they’ll admit that without the visitors, there would be a lot less money. ‘It’s a bit of a double-edged sword.’ Ironically enough, Poppy and her mother were standing right alongside a double-edged sword, the iconic 20ft Llafn y Cewri (Blade of the Giants) sculpture in Llanberis as we spoke.
‘When I’ve paid on buses sometimes,’ added Poppy, ‘the driver has made some slur under his breath about ‘English people’ in Welsh, which I don’t understand, but my friend noticed it. Otherwise people are generally polite and friendly.’
Unlike many of the passing visitors in Llanberis, Carl Abbott, 59 and his 60-year-old wife Alison from Cwmbran, South Wales, spotted the chilling sticker of a blazing house in Llanberis and immediately recognised its significance. ‘It’s a pretty nasty throwback to the bad old days,’ said Carl, who works in the housing sector.
‘It reminded me of that sketch on Not the Nine O’Clock News.’ In the closing credits of a 1980 edition of the satirical comedy show they showed a blazing grate with the voice over: ‘Come home to a real fire….buy a cottage in Wales’. The Meibion Glyndwr group firebombed more than 200 properties during a 12-year period between 1979 and 1992, though police never convicted anyone of being directly involved.
‘That nasty little sign is the only anti-visitor message that I’ve seen,’ said Carl. ‘I understand where they’re coming from, but I think it’s a bit simplistic to blame the housing crisis on the tourists. It began when Margaret Thatcher started selling off the council houses and it’s carried on. ‘People talk about affordable homes, but they’re often not affordable for young people starting out. I can see it’s very polarised up here because while you’ve got rural poverty, you’ve also got retired people coming in with a lot of money, driving the prices up, or even gazumping people.’
French-born Alex Correia, 35, and his wife Molly were sunbathing in Llanberis on a break from their home in Newcastle. ‘We’re in a motorhome, so we’re not taking anyone’s house,’ laughed Alex. ‘But seriously, if you took away all the tourists, where would people around here find jobs? ‘There must be a better way to handle this than pricing out the people providing holiday lets.’ Molly, 31, said she had experienced ‘no hostility at all’ from locals and hadn’t noticed the anti-tourist stickers.
In Pwllheli, Jo Dell, 59, and her partner Rob Camm, 63, from Winchcombe, Glos, have seen plenty of tourists drive up prices in their own corner of the Cotswolds ‘It’s a lovely place to come and hopefully the money we spend here will keep the local economy going,’ she said. ‘The whole place seems to be geared to attracting tourists from the National Park to Zip World [an outdoor adventure park featuring a 500ft high, mile-long zipline ride at 100mph] In Pwllheli, Jo Dell, 59, and her partner Rob Camm, 63, from Winchcombe, Glos, have seen plenty of tourists drive up prices in their own corner of the Cotswolds.
Jo said: ‘We see the same problem where we live in the Cotswolds of local people being priced out of buying a home, but just telling the tourists to go home wouldn’t solve anything, it would just cause a local economic collapse.’ Rob added: ‘It strikes me that if people are moving away from villages for other reasons like work, then if these houses weren’t holiday lets, who would be in them?’
NHS worker Graham Prydderch, 53, and daughters Mabli, 10 and Mali, 9, from Ruthin were fishing off Pwllheli dock. In the celebrity haunt of Abersoch, independent councillor John Brynmor Hughes told us why he was desperate to sell the five-bedroomed home in the village which he inherited after the death of his father Graham said: ‘These stickers are nothing short of disgusting, but there is a serious point that villages have lost their sense of community with all the people coming in from outside. ‘Obviously many places around here need tourists to survive, but there has to be a balance, and for young local people looking to buy a house it’s a nightmare.
In the celebrity haunt of Abersoch, independent councillor John Brynmor Hughes told us why he was desperate to sell the five-bedroomed home in the village which he inherited after the death of his father. Unless they could dispose of the property within 12 months it would cost them £5,000 a year in council tax, because Gwynedd council has chosen to charge second-home owners up to 300 per cent more. The punishing tax hike is designed to free up homes for local buyers who are being priced out of the market. But second-home owners are finding their properties simply won’t budge — leaving them caught in a costly tax trap. Abersoch is a holiday hotspot with the UK’s second highest share of second homes up for sale, accounting for 10 per cent of the market, according to the estate agents Hamptons.
‘The bottom has fallen out of the housing market in Abersoch and prices are dropping throughout the area,’ said Mr Brynmor Hughes, 72, a retired pub landlord. ‘The second-home premium is a killer. A lot of local people I grew up with are now inheriting their parent’s houses and having to sell them, or at least trying to, because they can’t afford to pay the extra council tax.’ According to hospitality chiefs, the same thing has happened across Wales. The Professional Association of Self-Caterers (PASC) UK has accused the Welsh Government of a continued failure to support the tourism and hospitality industry, and noticed a significant downturn in visitor numbers amid growing pessimism among operators. According to the Welsh Government’s own data, 47 per cent of self-catering operators have seen a fall in visitor numbers this year and only 16 per cent of businesses feel ‘very confident’ they can stay in the black this year. This comes on top of another Welsh Government report on GB Domestic Tourism, published in April 2025, this showed that overnight stays in Wales fell by an alarming 29% between 2022 and 2024.
‘These reports lay bare the economic damage being inflicted on Welsh tourism,’ Nicky Williamson, PASC UK’s Lead Policy Advisor in Wales, told the Mail. ‘What we are witnessing is the avoidable erosion of a vital sector, one that sustains jobs, communities, and Welsh culture. The figures are shocking, but not surprising to those of us on the ground.’
