More from the B&R - Brecon Market

I was going to post this last night, but phones and credit card machines across Hay weren't working, including mine. It all seems to be fixed now though.

Roy sells tools on Hay Market. He also goes to Brecon Market, and he's written a wonderful letter in last week's B&R in reply to some rather disparaging comments about Brecon Market. He points out that some people in Brecon don't even know they have a market! He talks about the difficulties of getting a decent sign showing that the market is there, what with the Council and National Parks 'reviewing' the matter, and considering such difficulties as altering a listed building and bilingualism. Really - how hard can it be?
"Abergavenny Market can be identified from space. You'd miss Brecon Market from Woolworths." he says - and for anyone who doesn't know Brecon, Woolworth's (as was) is practically next door.
The original letter writer seemed to have been disappointed by the goods on offer at the market, and Roy goes off into a wonderful flight of fancy, imagining what it should be like for visitors: "packed wall to wall with Welsh speaking farmers, clay pipe smoking farmer's wives in their stove pipe hats surrounded by boxes of eggs, wheels of cheese and boxes of butter, wrinkled grannies up to their knees in wool knitting socks for shepherds whilst her right leg is tethered to a pig. Kids chasing chickens and ducks whilst grandad is drunk as a skunk, throttling geese in the corner and all he found was tools, second hand books and imported clothing."

Here's hoping that his letter gets someone in authority interested in revitalising the Market, which used to be a major shopping destination for the local area. Bus fares on Tuesdays (market day) used to be cheaper so people from the surrounding villages could get to market. Hay still has half-day closing on Tuesdays for the local shops, because at one time everyone was shopping in Brecon so there was no point in staying open - and now there are people who live in Brecon who don't know they have a market on their doorstep!