The Arcade, Abertillery

The arcade in the Welsh Valleys town of Abertillery has been a little hub of this old mining community since it opened in the 1890s. It has three Welsh red dragons looking over the entrance in Commercial Street.

It’s only a simple arcade, with glass ceiling and iron gates at either end, but this is only a small town, so is lucky to have an arcade at all, and I can’t help wondering if – rather like Ystrad Mynach a couple of Valleys along scoring a point over its better known neighbour Caerphilly – Abertillery’s town folk were working a bit of one-upmanship over their near neighbour Ebbw Vale in having the arcade built.

Two of the vacant shop units in the arcade have large photos of the arcade in earlier days – one probably from early in the 19th century, the other from the 1970s, and there is a potted history of the arcade, too, with a note on early tenants, and a report on the glass roof caving in after a storm in the 1930s.

The café is clearly the focal point of the arcade today, giving a buzz both inside and with tables and chairs in the middle of the walkway, too. One shop specialising in cleaning products has branched out for the autumn with a pop-up shop targeting Christmas shoppers in the empty unit opposite for the last few months of the year. And there are the usual arcade shops: nails, hair, a legal advice centre and solicitors, along with quirkier businesses focusing on dog care and photography.

So, Abertillery’s arcade might not have the glamour of Cardiff’s many arcades, nor even the busy-ness of Newport’s main arcade, but the community is clearly proud of its Victorian asset, and it makes South Wales almost rival Yorkshire as the UK region with the most arcades remaining today (at least 12 in South Wales alone; Yorkshire has 16, with 13 in West Yorkshire alone).

My pick of the arcade’s past

Samuel Nathan Jones, an Abertillery grocer, was the lead name involved with having the arcade roof put on in 1897, and a Mr Buckley, who ran the local Temperance Hotel, opened an auction house in the new arcade in March 1898, followed by a Mr Austin, who had run his children’s clothes business in the town for some years previously. White’s ironmonger was also an early tenant, although some shop units proved more difficult to let, as Mr Jones was still advertising vacant premises in the arcade a year after it was finished. A sweet shop and a furniture shop opened in 1899, while the ironmonger shifted his business to trade in bicycles, which by then had become the fashion for getting about.

Mr Buckley sold what had become a furniture business to a Russian Jew called Falkman, who was declared insolvent by 1904. In the inquest into his affairs, it was revealed that Falkman had made some money from a second-hand furniture business in South Africa, but had been less successful in Wales. A fire had destroyed a lot of property in another premises he rented, and he lost money through gambling, sometimes on horses, sometimes on other sports, the last big bet he lost was on a wrestling match between a Turk and a fellow Russian. On finding out he had backed the Russian, the judge Registrar said Falkman would have done better backing his fellow Russians at home who were ‘in a fearful mess’ (this was the time of riots against the Tsar). In his bankruptcy case a few months later, it emerged that he had lost over £300 in gambling, while he owed his creditors over £600, and still gambled in the hope that one more bet would clear his losses. He also chose to repay debts to friends and family rather than his creditors ‘because they had done him a favour’.

Jack James’ barbers opened in 1907, but by 1909 he was appearing in court charged with running a betting shop on the side on his premises. Police watched the premises from across the arcade, seeing about 30 men enter the barber’s one morning, only three of whom stayed long enough for a shave or a haircut. On another day, 110 men passed through the shop, clearly not there for any barbering. When police entered the premises, they found £40 in cash in the till, which was far more would be expected for a hairdressing business at the time.

Sources for all stories in this section www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) South Wales Gazette, 22 April 1904 – Reach plc; South Wales Gazette, 20 May 1904 – Reach plc; 2) South Wales Gazette, 6 August 1909 – Reach plc