Can 'Barrybados' bring in tourists?

The idea behind Barrybados.com was to create a new, fresh website for Barry and help promote and create tourism for the town and local business say the men behind the website.

Twenty-nine-year-old Louis Ross and 30-year-old Rhys Howell are hoping the site, which was developed by Leroy Keeble, will further the Barry cause at home and abroad.

“We want to create a website not just for tourists but one for the residents of Barry and one they will be proud of,” they told their local newspaper The Barry and District News.

“The website has been a vision of ours for a very long time. Designing our merchandise products and developing them ready for launch as well as working full time has been a challenge, but one we have enjoyed very much," said Rhys.

Sarah Hibbard reports on the thinking behind 'Barrybados' and how it may help tranform the future of Barry Island.

The two friends said they were tired of seeing Barry run down have set about doing the town “proud” with a social media and merchandise campaign.

Louis and Rhys began marketing their home town and the Island in a bid to spread a feel-good factor. They also take their Barrybados flag to Cardiff FC games.

Louis says all their merchandising has sold out twice and have upped their orders to cope with demand.

"We started off with just mugs, and now we have car window stickers and we are continuously working on new products and other designs, we hope this is just the beginning and we're aiming to release our latest product within the next few weeks."