Just two years after it was wrecked by the floods during Storm Dennis, Mill Street in Pontypridd is becoming quite the hub for cool, independent businesses, with vintage homeware, homemade cakes and desserts and an indie bookshop sitting side-by-side with the long-established chips shops and florists.
The latest addition to the street, just a stone's throw away from the town's famous market and mosiac-ed subway decked out with seminal figure's of Ponty's recent cultural history, is a coffee and juice bar which not only makes use of a leafy corner of the street, but also carries on the tradition of the Orsi family businesses, who have served the people from the area for more than 100 years.
Zucco Juice Bar has been open since the beginning of the year and is run by Enrico Orsi, whose grandparents ran John and Maria's restaurant which used to be opposite Pontypridd railway station until it shut around 25 years ago. Serving fresh juices, coffees and paninis, as well as homemade cakes, filled croissants and loads more, serving people in Ponty good coffee and good food is in Enrico's blood. He explained: "My family have been running cafes and restaurants in town for nearly 100 years, my grandparents ran John & Maria's restaurant, which was pretty well known, so yeah, I'm continuing that tradition of being a fourth generation person to be running an establishment in town. I feel like it's in my blood to do this."
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Enrico, who has lived in Italy, France and Switzerland, knew that his heart belonged in Pontypridd and feels, quite rightly, that the town has an up-and-coming feeling, after good few years of feeling left behind - and not only after Covid and the floodings. Long-term businesses like The Prince's and Cafe Royale have maintained their independent offering, the local indoor market is having a makeover and is full of businesses from antiques and books to traditional butchers and bakers as well as traditional, Thai and Chinese food, the latter, Janet's Authentic Northern Chinese currently the holder of best streetfood in the country. And as well as retail and food, the always-packed Lido in Ynysangharad Park brings in many who may not have visited Pontypridd before.
"My dad always said to me 'go to university, don't end up doing what I'm doing.' And that's exactly what happened. I did go to uni and I lived in France for four years, Italy for a year and Switzerland too. Then it came back around full circle," he explained. "I've travelled but there's no other place I'd rather be than Ponty at the moment, it's got such an up-and-coming vibe about it and our ethos is PLUR principle, peace, love, unity, respect." he laughed.
"So peace, love unity, respect, that's the foundation of the business. And we get like a really wide array of people that come in here. You've got yuppies from Graigwen, and the old stalwarts who come in and they appreciate us as well and there's the younger people. We have people from all over the place. All different, that's what's good about Ponty, you get such a wide array of people. So it's about being inclusive."
As well as being the only Welsh place to sell All Press coffee, Zucco's homemade banana bread is flying out as are their superfood bowls of a lunchtime, the fresh orange juice, pressed in the front window of the shop is a delicious refresher in the heatwave. The shop itself, formerly Harry's sandwich shop, is cutely modest and their corner positioning means they've made great use of the outdoor space, even hosting their first wedding recently.
It's hard not to be pumped up by Enrico's ethos, albeit delivered in a laid-back, peace and love fashion, but being on Mill Street on a sunny day, watching people enjoy coffee, off to the shops or loaded up with Lido-ready bags, it seems that Ponty is doing well.
"It's a pleasure to work here and meet so many people, it's surprising what people actually come through the door, what their background is and how they've ended up in Ponty," he added. "It's definitely got like a gravitational force, Ponty, like people come here once and they finally want to stay. And we've got the Mill Street Quarter too.
"I take a lot of inspiration from Treorchy, if Treorchy can get High Street of the Year I don't see why Ponty can't because there's so much potential here. And it's all about independent shops up there, and that's what I think Mill Street is about. It's about all of us working together, trying to do as much as possible."
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