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."
