For those used to viewing things in black and white this one is in glorious technicolor. It’s a view of old Frogmore Street in Abergavenny back in the day. Kind of psychedelic isn’t it?

Before we purchased everything online and wandered around supermarkets in a catatonic daze, we used to visit something called shops when we needed a ready fix some unnecessary tat and trinkets to clutter up our living space with. And there was nowhere which housed more rare and unusual novelty items and objects of a curious nature than Abergavenny’s Bazaar!

Billed as “The Greatest Show In Town,” the Bazaar was the largest and cheapest toy and fancy goods warehouse in the local area by a country mile. The fun didn’t top there. They also sold purses, bags and “thousands of articles in glass and china suitable for presents.” And if that wasn’t enough to spark your interest and trigger some retail therapy they also offered, “Grand value in mounted local views.” Visitors could also hire mail carts or perambulators from the store. In case you’re wondering what a ‘perambulator’ is, it’s an old-fashioned word for pram. How Bazaar!

Needless to say they don’t make them like this any more. It’s rumoured that a man named Leland Gaunt once worked there and was the inspiration for the character in Stephen King’s novel ‘Needful Things’. But that might just be a brass necked lie.

Others have suggested you could buy small furry creatures called Mogwai on the premises. But once again we have to take this with a pinch of salt.

Yet as sure as eggs is eggs this little den of delights kept the good folk of Abergavenny in consumables for many a moon. And no doubt much of the good stuff once purchased in the Bazaar can be found collecting dust in drawers, under floorboards, and in attics to this day.

Before you leave, if you cross over from the Bazaar to the right hand side of the street, you’ll find the old YMCA building, which is now home to one of Abergavenny’s most successful family owned businesses, Jaybee.