Aberdare Blog

Retail Comedy

One bale of hay in Focus DIY store Aberdare… twelve pounds and seventy five pence. Pure retail comedy.

A Thrifty Thrill from Aberdare

We’ve been hauling herbs and other food delights from one particular Aberdare shop for twenty or more years. It started with a vegetarian experiment and a jar of Brewer’s Yeast at Sian’s Natural Selection Health Foods shop, Whitcombe Street, Aberdare. We’ve kept coming back again, and again, and again. In today’s herb stash we have chamomile and yarrow. 60 pence in total. A thrifty thrill!

Aberdare’s Surgeon to Old Shoes

A chance encounter in Weatheral Street, Aberdare today : whilst taking a photograph the gentleman with white hair walks into view and smiles for the camera.

Russell Bowen is Aberdare’s Surgeon to Old Shoes. Perhaps we should call him the Surgeon General as he is the most senior cobbler in Aberdare and has been in the business of mending shoes for decades.

In times past, local craftspeople made and mended shoes, and therefore there were cobblers in every town and village.

Nowadays the majority of our shoes are made thousands of miles away, mostly in Chinese factories. Few of these shoes are built to last or be repaired.

Mr Traffic Warden

Local traffic warden Raymond ensures Aberdare keeps moving.

It’s five weeks until Christmas and Aberdare Town is getting busier by the day…

The ‘retail theatre’ of Aberdare Town is staged by a large cast of dedicated people.

Aberdare traders, local police and others make it all move smoothly.

Say Cheese Mr Cheese

Mr Cheese is a familiar face at Rheola Market every Saturday.

Douglas - Mr Cheese - from Brecon sells all kinds of cheeses at Rheola Market every Saturday. His stall is near the main entrance of the Rheola Market building.

There’s always a wide selection of cheeses at a value-for-money price.

Rheola Market is held every Saturday from 9am until 4pm. It is held 4 miles south of Glynneath. Postcode SA11 4DT.