Since moving to the high street earlier this year Abergavenny Citizens Advice Bureau has seen a significant increase in the number of people coming through its doors .

CAB shares its new premises at 19a/b Cross Street with Gateway Credit Union.

It's a happy 'marriage' – with CAB providing free, impartial advice on everything from debt and money problems to benefits, housing and family issues and Gateway offering an ethical alternative to the big banks for savings and affordable loans.

Tess Daw, manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau, says one of the main advantages of the new location is easier access.

"It's a more welcoming environment. I think the fact people can see us through the shop window makes a lot of difference – it's much less intimidating," she said.

"You can walk in off the street and pick up leaflets on a wide range of topics. We also have a kiosk where you can search the 'Access to Advice' guide online.

"There's always someone on reception for frontline and credit union clients and the offices are much larger, with three private interview rooms.

"Very often a problem is easily resolved. People may simply need information or signposting to another organisation.

"If their problems are more complex they're offered an initial assessment to determine how we can best help them. We can then arrange an appointment with a generalist or specialist.

"We have a specialist in health benefits and a project worker for the uptake of housing and council tax benefits who is based here but also covers our bureaux in Monmouth, Chepstow and Caldicot. We also have a specialist debt adviser. There's nothing like this free advice service in other European countries."

Both Abergavenny CAB and Gateway also do outreach at the Communities First centre in Hill Crest Road, Mardy on Tuesdays.

"The service we provide is much more complex than it used to be," said Tess. "Nowadays we deal with multiple issues. The same person could have debt and benefit and domestic problems and we would explore the whole situation."

The image of CAB has changed too.

"We used to attract mostly retired people as volunteers but we now have quite a few young people. Two of our volunteers, Amber and Rachel, who are trained to conduct initial assessments, are in their early twenties for example and our youngest team member is deputy manager Beth, who worked here as a volunteer for two years after graduating, then took a full-time job with us."

To reach the widest possible audience CAB promotes its services via Twitter and Facebook – and even on beer mats!

In the second quarter of 2012 the Bureau saw 323 clients and dealt with 800 separate issues compared with 187 clients and 500 issues in the same period last year.

The majority of clients, according to Tess, are in the thirty to fifty age group.

CAB is always looking for volunteers from all backgrounds who like people, solving puzzles and doing research. Full training is provided.

"The volunteers get a lot from working here – it's a friendly and interesting environment," she said.

Workinging alongside Gateway Credit Union works well for CAB because the team can often identify people that would benefit from membership.

Gateway Development Officer Sara Burch says credit unions are becoming 'the ethical choice, like drinking fair trade coffee!'

CU is owned and run by its members – more than 2,000 across the county.

Its services include Junior Saver and Child Trust Fund accounts and savings clubs in several local schools (Deri View, Llantilio Pertholey, Goytre and Cross Ash) encouraging young people to learn the value of money.

Gateway also specialises in small loans from £50 to £7,500 on flexible terms, with each application assessed individually and decisions made by a loans committee not a computer.

"People use us to budget for holidays, car repairs, Christmas and so on.

"We often provide loans for people with a poor credit history, tenants, those on low incomes. A young mum wanting some extra funds to buy Christmas presents for the kids, for example, could borrow £500 and repay the loan at just under £11 a week for a year. We would also expect her to open a savings account because we try to promote thrift and help people to manage their money."

Savers receive dividends and all loans and savings come with free life insurance.Gateway is extending its services all the time, with clubs, businesses and societies now eligible to join.

"We've just issued our first debit cards and have recently opened our first ISA accounts," said Sara.

Gateway is also on the look out for volunteers who need to be 'trustworthy, good with people and able to add up!'