MAKE YOUR POUND A PENARTH POUND

Every pound spent in our local shops is worth twice as much to the Penarth economy than one spent in the supermarket, writes National Assembly candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth, Dafydd Trystan Davies...

Dr Dafydd Trystan Davies

My first experience of Penarth was a rather painful one. Rather foolishly a few years ago I signed up to run the Snowdonia mountain marathon and, living across the Bay, the hills of Penarth seemed very inviting (from afar!). Many hours of slowly trudging up and down the hill from the Bay to the centre of Penarth and, once I’d got a little more adventurous, down to the Pier too, I was ready for Snowdonia! But I’d also come to appreciate the wide range of independent shops in the town centre.

More recently, my Dad moved to Penarth, so the rather breathless window shopping when out running has turned into actual shopping and quite a few coffees and cakes at Foxy’s Deli! Foxy’s is a particular treat as a group of us - weather and light permitting - go for a short bike ride on Wednesday mornings, with a coffee and cake afterwards at Foxy’s most definitely the highlight of the ride!

Power is in your pocket

Shopping locally in Penarth is a pleasure but also really important to the wider economic success of the area. Though the economy of Penarth is certainly more robust than some other towns, the more that can be done to encourage people to do more shopping locally to help maintain vibrant high streets the better.

There’s a splendid book shop, Windsor Books, with a good range of books and greetings cards in English and Welsh. Pencerdd has a great variety of musical instruments for sale, though, thankfully for the musically inclined, my violin playing days are long over! Foxy’s Deli has an enviable display of ‘goodies’ and you don’t have to cycle up the hill from the barrage to earn a coffee and cake there! These local businesses deserve our support.

I am, as you’ve probably gathered by now, a keen cyclist and chair the social enterprise, Cycle Training Wales, which offers a wide range of cycle training bike maintenance courses and bike recycling. So I am naturally pleased that Penarth has the Bike Shop selling and repairing bikes in the centre of town. If you’re after a new bike then the Bike Shop is the place to go, while Cycle Training Wales’ Cardiff Cycle Workshop at Ely Bridge offers recycled bikes in monthly sales.

There are of course many more local traders in and around Penarth and I’m pleased that they have got together to produce a loyalty card to support local, independent traders and give offers and discounts to customers. The card is an initiative of Gwyrddio Penarth Greening and, as a keen environmentalist, I think this is just the sort of scheme needed to help our town centres.

Shop in Penarth, an initiative of Gwyrddio Penarth Greening

I wonder how many Penarth residents have this card and, while it may not have been a New Year’s resolution, how about making a St David’s Day resolution to shop more locally? 

Money spent in independent shops on the high street is money that stays locally, and it has been estimated that every £1 spent locally puts twice as much money back into the local economy as £1 spent in a supermarket. Local shops employ local people, are supplied by local businesses and create more jobs with their profits kept in the local community.

Wales has a strong tradition of food producers and craft businesses, and buying locally is the perfect opportunity to support them.

Just some of the mouth-watering Welsh produce available at Foxy's (Image: Penarth View)

But there is only so much individuals can do. There is also, in my view a responsibility on public bodies to choose local suppliers wherever possible. In Plaid Cymru, for whom I have been selected to stand in the next Assembly elections, we have been campaigning for some time on public procurement.

Currently, about 50 per cent of goods and services purchased by the Welsh public sector come from Welsh-based suppliers and I’d very much like to see this increased to 75 per cent to provide even more support for local businesses and local jobs. It’s been estimated that current public sector purchases account for nearly 100,000 jobs in Wales and an increase to 75 per cent would mean more than 45,000 extra jobs.

We have the opportunity to support our local traders in Penarth, to boost the economy and to encourage our councils and public bodies to do more to source their goods locally. We all have a part to play in this and, while you may not want to join me in running up and down the hills of Penarth (why not – it’s great fun!), I hope you will join me in continuing to support our local traders.

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