AS the giddy momentum of the New Year runs out of steam and the cries of the “Same old! Same old!” Fill the air, let’s take a peek at some of the things that could happen in Abergavenny in 2026 to brighten the mood…. but at the same time, you can sort of bet they probably won’t!

What better month to build a bridge than January! And what better bridge to build than the long-promised active travel bridge between Abergavenny and Llanfoist?

MCC have been bragging about building the active travel bridge that will unite the tribes for years, and apparently, 2026 is the year it’s going to happen. But we’ve all heard that chestnut before!

In theory, building a bridge shouldn’t take that long. The Severn Bridge took just over three years to construct. The Golden Gate Bridge took a little over four years, and although the conditions were harrowing and the labour was brutal, the bridge over the River Kwai was built in less than a year.

Where the hell is Isambard Kingdom Brunel when you need him?

Next up is the space where the Richards store used to be!

It’s been well over a year since Frogmore Street burned through the night and the inferno claimed one of Abergavenny's oldest and finest buildings.

The smoke has long since cleared, the rubble removed, and in the place of the bricks and mortar that played such an integral part in the town’s identity, there now lies an empty space, boarded up and desolate.

It is not quite a wasteland, not quite a car park, and not quite a building site. It is simply an empty space with industrial fences on one side, and a fire-ravaged wall and a pile of discarded bricks on the other.

Where once there was a building of elegant architecture, there is now simply a grey wall that appears to be hiding not so much a work in progress but something shameful.

Nature abhors a vacuum, but are municipal authorities all that bothered?

The space which Richards once occupied is a prime slice of real estate in a flourishing town.

In late 2025, MCC released a statement that read, "Monmouthshire County Council are engaged and working with the site owner and third parties to develop the site with an aspirational project that would enhance Abergavenny’s town centre. Full details of the proposals will be able to be shared with the community as this project progresses."

Don’t hold your breath just yet because just at the biggest balloon one day deflates, and the brightest star eventually falls, there’s no guarantee there’ll be any movement this year on either project.

Nor for that matter, will The Great George reopen, Bailey Park get a swimming pool, adequate flood defences be put in place, potholes filled or house prices in Monmouthshire become affordable.

Never mind, it’s not all bad news. Keir Starmer said in his New Year’s message that 2026 is the year Britain turns a corner. He just forgot to tell us about the horrors waiting around the bend!