It has been 25 years since a fire destroyed the Pier Pavilion Theatre leaving the site bare.

February 13 marked the anniversary of the fire at the Pier Pavilion Theatre and 25 years on the site still remains empty.

Although there are proposed plans from developers, Quay Developments Ltd which would see 48 high-quality apartments, two restaurants and an underground car park built on the site.

The £18 million proposed plans would also include three floors of parking, available to neighbouring businesses and hotels, complemented by more than 20,000 square feet of restaurant and public space, including a large atrium and walkway from the pier through to Happy Valley Road.

A spokesperson for Quay Developments Ltd said: "We look forward to taking this scheme forward in 2019, creating permanent and temporary jobs that will breathe new life into the economy and revitalise this dilapidated site.

"Work is set to begin later this year."

But Llandudno mayor, cllr David Hawkins, said he didn't think the proposed development fitted in with the town and that something should have been done on the site before now.

Mr Hawkins said: "It's been 25 years and it still has not been resolved. The development that is proposed doesn't fit in with the town and what is around the site.

"I don't understand why previous councillors didn't do something with it straight after the fire. They could have obtained a compulsory purchase order and taken over the site."

He said the development will cause major disruptions to the tourism industry, especially the Pier.

Residents still remembered the Pier Pavilion Theatre fire 25 years on.

Llandudno resident and local historian John Lawson-Reay was a cameraman at the time of the fire and was at the scene.

Mr Lawson-Reay, speaking to the Pioneer, said: "It was 5.30pm on February, 13 1994 when I had a call to say that the Pier Pavilion was on fire. I was a news cameraman for BBC Wales at the time.

"When I got on the Prom, the building was a blazing inferno from end to end - totally out of control.

"I had a previous interest in the Pavilion in that, as Chairman of the Llandudno Civic Trust, we had been trying to get the owners to make the building secure.

"It had been clear for some time that there were points where intruders could get in. This is without doubt what happened and the fire was started deliberately.

"It was the most spectacular fire that I have ever covered in North Wales, only challenged by the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits twenty four years previously.

"The fire service could do nothing except to help the police with evacuating nearby hotels on Happy Valley Road.

"The heat was intense as I made my way up onto Camera Hill. There, a police helicopter was trying to tell me and the other spectators to move away. Of course nobody did, there was no real danger to us.

"It (Pier Pavilion Hotel) was completely gutted by 6.15pm.

"It was a very sad spectacle particularly as the Pavilion was awaiting a planned £1 million redevelopment.

"It was truly the jewel in Llandudno's crown, a lynch-pin at the Great Orme end of the Promenade, where it had an important history as the resort's most important theatre."