AS Wales has gone into another lockdown, it means that people are retreating back to their houses and having to stay local. This means that the popular Barry Island will be quieter with only locals allowed to visit as part of their daily exercise.

But people who live further afield are not going to fully miss out – with Barry Island live streams covering Whitmore Beach. There are two cameras which show a live feed of the area, hosted by O’Shea’s Café, they cover part of the promenade outside the café and Whitmore Beach, allowing people to see what is going on in the area.

Craig O’Shea of O’Shea’s Café said: “We decided to host a webcam when the popularity of Barry Island began to rise due to the success of Gavin and Stacey. We started to notice a lot of customers were coming from all over the world so we thought it would be nice for people who aren’t lucky enough to live close to Barry Island to be able to log in and see what’s going on and to show friends how beautiful Barry Island beach is.

“It has also proved very useful with people checking in to see what the weather is like or how busy the island is before deciding to come down.

“It has all been very successful when streaming events such as bonfire night, royal visits and so on.”

The cameras have become a popular fixture around beach areas in the UK for all of the reasons Mr O’Shea stated. They were used on the Christmas bank holiday weekend when it was reported that Barry Island was extremely busy despite the lockdowns, for people to see exactly how busy it was.

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South Wales Police are now patrolling in the area to check people are out and about for essential reasons only.

They have also had a positive effect for the police when carrying out investigations. South Wales Police recently highlighted how nearby Porthcawl’s live feed was a vital instrument in the location of a missing woman. The force explained how they had been searching for the woman and were concerned for her welfare, however they were unable to locate her in the dark and the weather conditions.

So they asked the officers in the control room to have a look on the live feed – which shows Porthcawl pier – and those officers were able to spot movement and direct the searching officers to the scene, locating the woman and making sure she was safe and well.

To view the Barry live feeds, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeraED8ZCss&feature=youtu.be