The new Mayor of Abergavenny was elected this week, with the historic chains handed over to mark the start of a new year for Abergavenny Town Council.

On the evening of Wednesday May 14th, Cllr Chris Holland paid tribute to the welcome he received in his year of office and was appreciative of the opportunity to have held the position in the town where he was born and bred.

“There’s been no downside to my year at all, to be perfectly honest,” said an emotional past Mayor, taking off the chains for the last time.

“It has been a year which really embodied the spirit of the town. After the horrible fire on Frogmore Street, the man who lived next door, Paul Cable, and I were together on Father Christmas’ sleigh at the site just weeks later.”

“I felt privileged to be at VE Day celebrations too, having the honour of laying a wreath at the cenotaph was special, as one of my last acts as Mayor.”

At Abergavenny Town Council’s AGM, Cllr Philip Bowyer was unanimously elected as Mayor for 2025/26 and told the Chronicle he was honoured to wear the chains.

“I came to Abergavenny by accident to be honest,” the Labour councillor remarked.

“I lived in Switzerland for 35 years, and when I returned it was never the plan to settle here, but within days I met a lot of extremely friendly people and I could never find anywhere better to live.”

“It’s a very attractive, progressive town and we have a good reputation. The Observer said this was the best place to live in Wales at one time, and as modest as the people of Abergavenny are it is now my job to make sure our reputation is maintained and make sure the town council is there to help with that.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Bryony Nicholson will be remaining as the Deputy Mayor of Abergavenny for a second year following a ballot.

It was apt that the new mayor assumed the role on the day that step-free access was opened to passengers at Abergavenny station, which he says was one of the first campaigns he worked on after moving here.

The representative for the Park ward is committed to delivering further positive change to the town for residents and visitors with his work already getting underway.

“We have spent a lot of time in the last year on the placemaking plan and we will be seeing a report on that in the next few months,” he said.

“I think we have got an exciting time upcoming in Abergavenny, with lots of people sitting down together to think in the longer term what we can do to make this town better.”

“Some of the ideas we have will be implemented, but I certainly think it is the job of myself and the town council to figure out what matters to residents and visitors and how we implement the changes they want to see.”