Barry Present Day
Barry is the principal town of the Vale of Glamorgan and has its own Town Council (the largest town council in Wales), which carries on the long tradition of 'local' government in a town which, as well as Barry itself, includes the original village of Cadoxton and Barry Island. Barry was, in 1939, made an independent borough.
The town has excellent road and rail links with Cardiff and other parts of South Wales, having its own exit off the M4 motorway. Cardiff Airport at Rhoose is extremely close being situated just 12 miles from Cardiff City Centre and 10 miles from the M4 motorway. Cardiff Airport handles 1.5 million passengers a year and is one of the UK's most successful regional airports. It offers an extensive range of leisure services throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North America plus daily scheduled services operate direct from Cardiff to twelve key destinations across the UK and Europe: Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast, Brussels, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guernsey, Jersey, Newcastle and Paris.
Barry Island, together with the coast that extends west to Porthkerry, has long been noted for its splendid south facing sandy beaches and cliff scenery. Most visitors head for the sandy beach of Whitmore Bay, near Friar's point, but locals tend to favour the other local beaches such as Jackson's Bay, the Old Harbour, the long pebbly beach of Cold Knap and beyond the Bullnose cliff, Porthkerry Beach.
Over the last few years Barry has become a TV filming location. The BBC Series "Gavin and Stacey" is filmed in Barry with neighbouring Dinas Powys pretending to be Billericay. The Doctor Who stories Delta and the Bannermen, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances also had location filming here.