In the 1880s the small inn at Gwbert was known as the "Gwbert Watering Hole". The proposal that Gwbert should be a major seaside resort "to challenge Brighton and Scarborough" was first made in 1886, following the opening of the Whitland and Cardigan Railway to nearby Cardigan, a line which was taken over that same year by the Great Western Railway. In 1888 the local Corporation met regarding the leases of the new proposed Villa residences, and in 1889 The "Cardigan & Tivyside Advertiser" was reporting on "Cardigan's 'New Brighton'", with Mr C.E.D. Morgan-Richardson, a Cardigan solicitor and businessman, named to head a company to develop the old Gwbert Inn property through the purchase of 96 acres of land, and with capital of £20,000. In addition to the considerable development of the Gwbert Inn, a row of villa boarding houses were to be built along what became Evelyn's Terrace. (Morgan-Richardson was later to become mayor of Cardigan.)