PONTYPRIDD: THE PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY OF MILL STREET
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- You can take the boy out of Ponty, but can you take Ponty out of the boy....?
An Autobiogeographical exploration (try saying that after a few pints at the Llanover Arms) of Mill Street, Pontypridd by an expatriate writer who has rarely returned to the haunts of his youth since leaving Wales in 1985. Encompassing the glories of Welsh femininity, dinosaur films, post-punk electronic music, monster movie model kits and a bit of more conventional local history, the Outlaw Bookseller returns to Mill Street to describe its effect on his imagination as a child....
Nice one. Enjoyed that thoroughly.
Loved your Psycogeonenic view of Mill Street. I know time takes it's toll. I am a little older and although I worked away from Pontypridd for many years I have a good memory of Old Mill St and its history. The Toy shop is still there but has evolved into Brent Thomas's shop. Badmans furniture store used to be the Dole Office. SWEB shop was in what is now the Post Office. Fresco cafe used to be Wimpy. Across the road the Fish and Chip shop used to be Plowmans Wet Fish shop. Gim Hong Chinese was on that side as well as Sweaty Betty's late night curry house. Further up under the underpass was Caddy's feed store for pet and animal feeds.
Very interesting. I love this sort of thing x
Thanks. I really enjoyed making this clip, returning to my home town for a few hours for the first time in almost ten years just to do so.
Lost Chances...... ah yes indeed. Great video. (Wayne J here)
I enjoyed that. Ta.
Thanks!
Nice post.
My mother worked at the Inland Revenue office in (old) Mill Street when we lived in Treorchy. Later, that office was relocated to the new, central precinct building at the other end of town. We, shortly after moved house to the also new Graigwen estate - Whiterock Drive. A new home with an inside bathroom!
I managed to retain my (Rhondda) attendance at the now long-gone Porth County Grammar - a bit of a feat at the time, educational boundaries being what they were/are. With a free bus pass, no less.
I may be wrong, but I seem to recollect the Greyhound as having a somewhat - ahem - colourful reputation. Maybe my memory's playing tricks...
Whatever - the Ponty of now is a very different place to the one I left so long ago.
I had family in Treorchy, on my father's side. You're right, The Greyhound did have a reputation. Glad you enjoyed this.
The Electricity Board... that alone speaks volumes. Hahaha!
Interesting video, Stephen.
my first time in trouble with the police, 1981 shoplifting cream eggs and freddo chocolate from Woolworths in Ponty.I left the valleys over 30 years ago but Pontypridd is dear to me
Woolworths- very vivid memories of wandering around there in the early 70s as a kid. Yep, Ponty sticks with you...
Mill St you walked past the Celtic club is still there to day on the right walking towards Town Sweaty Bets was on the end then you had the fish ship shop and jim Hongs chinese and the Barbour Shop on that side. the other side was Celtic club, Badman Furniture's and model shop also Burger King and there was a home brew shop but not all in that order .
In the 1950s my dad used to look out for steam from the train approaching from further up the valley. He could see it from his home in Abercynon; he'd then know that it was time to rush to the station to get the train to Aberdare where he taught in the school. By the early 1960s he had moved to England and I was at primary school, I remember that I had the job of going to the bus stop to collect his tea mug from its lodging in the beech hedge.
....How come it's not raining? Are you sure that this is Pontypridd? K (:
You're right it wasn;t raining, so maybe it was Alphaville...hang on, it was often raining there too...
Mill Street meant Sweaty Bettys for me, best Indian curry shop in South Wales. Also had Gym Hons Chines Curry House.
the blue and cream building Sardis House, was the council offices, but they are vacating it shortly 2024. where you stood is going to be a mega bus stop, not sure what they are building by the bus stop but it is big and tons of concrete. I saw visitors standing their kids in front of the murals for photographs in the underpass. Age connect has gone, it is a hairdresser now for men.
The wimpy is still there but called something else , gym hongs was one side of the road laws cafe on the other side and sweaty bettys next to Laos .
Made me wish I had done the same sort of thing when last I was in my old stomping grounds . . . 10 years ago.
'Alphaville' Jean-Luc Godard? Weird to think of it... I think I loved (and feared?) pedestrian underpasses that appeared in the 1970s, do all of them have the same kind of light fittings. 'The Mummy' Aurora kit had luminous head and hand/s? I still have them, I turned the hand into an earring.
I love 'Alphaville'. I think all the Aurora Monsters had the luminous head/hands option! I like the earring idea....
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Mine was the Godzilla.
@@salty-walt -Never had that one, shame!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Somehow, the glow in the dark options just made *sense* on Godzilla - especially the back spines.
(Dracula, not so much)
Love this walk back through time. I've been in Australia for 20 years and London for 6 before that (born in '66). Great to reminisce, a little sad too.
Gym Hong's was the chinese by the way and Sweaty Betty's was the curry house :)
Glad you liked it. Many people have pointed out my gaff re the takeaways. I think this is because I never used them as I lived some miles from Ponty. Thanks for your comments!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I didn't too often, we usually couldn't get across the threshold on a Saturday night. Glad to see the Celtic is still there.
@@aaaracing2285 -Yep, a friend reminded me what it was called, but I'm not sure if it's still a club, I think it may be a hostel now. There are a few more Ponty videos coming, so please subscribe- and I'll be shooting more in Ponty, Caerphilly and around in the year to come.
Wimpy was the other side of the road. Sweaty Bettys was the Indian takeaway; the Chinese was Jim Hongs. I also left Ponty in the 80s and do occasional flying visits so I found your video quite interesting.
Thanks. When you say 'the other side of the road', do you mean the first side I walked down (toward Taff Street) or the side I walked up (away from Taff street). I'm pretty sure it was on the 'up' side, but it was a long time ago. Also, Was it Gim Hong rather than Jim Hong? Several people on Ponty facebook sites have corrected me re the Chinese takeaway and 'Sweaty Betty's' - most saying the latter was a Pakistani rather than an Indian. I simply can't remember. Glad you liked it!
Excellent! Your accent became more Welsh the further down Mill Street you went.
I noticed that as well - a pleasing effect!
What about the underpass by the steps you started .
Lost chances , missed chances , and memories..facts morphing into fiction edited , choreographed with special effects by the dreamer . Myself . My cinamars only showed oaters , horror and lots of ' kick ups ' (kung fu ) . Now and then a soft porn . Thank you . I do enjoy these trips . Till next walk , unwraping, review et al . Bye
Interesting, but so much wrong, the wimpy bar was on the pther side, next to the BT shop, Sweaty Betties was a Pakistan Restaurant, nothing to do with the lovely Chinese family who ran the Chinese restaurant near by.
You'll see some other comments re these details if you read what others have posted. I'm sure you're right- I haven't lived in Pontypridd for 40 years, so naturally my memory is hazy.
ua-cam.com/video/HZ1YOokUR-c/v-deo.html - My latest Pontypridd video, archive footage of Hawthorn Comp in 1980