Llandybie In The Fifties

A Memory of Llandybie.

I was born there and spent my early years in Campbell Road.

Back in those days there was a farm in the middle of the village, the Plas, and cows were kept in the field which were taken for milking to the old cowsheds then in Kings Road leading up to the Church!

There were many shops as one walked around the village,, in Kings Road an ironmongers and an ice cream parlor called Karrera's and a shop run by a lady called Mrs Jewel.
Around the corner by the church was a chemists, who also worked as the village photographer with a studio upstairs, a bakers, a grocers and greengrocers (Johnson's I believe it was called). Further down was a large newsagent and tobacconists who also sold toys, which made it the best shop in the village in my eyes. The man's name was Owen Rees. Around the lower corner on the opposite side was a very secretive looking shop which was the Off License, as such shops were in those days. Respectable drinking was done openly in the pub, and even going into an off license was viewed with suspicion. There was a garage (Beynon's) and a grocery store and to the right just by the turning to the recreation ground a large (or so it seemed to me) fish and chip shop. More shops followed, grocery, butcher and strangely it now seems for a village, a gents tailor.

As one approached the bridge to the left was a large yard belonging to the house by the bride. It was known as Pockocks Yard and was a place of wonder and playground to me, having horses, chickens and even ducks and geese sometimes,.as well as a store of builders sand where my little friend and I played,. It seems incredible now that under fives enjoyed such freedom to wander out of sight of our parents!