Knickers to You, Madam

As Sid James might say. A bit of a 'Carry On', if you'll excuse the pun, as a Llandyrnog woman in yesterday’s Free Press complained that she had to travel to Rhuthun rather than slightly nearer Dinbych/Denbigh to buy her underwear. Said the correspondent, “I cannot buy knickers in Denbigh–but have to go to Ruthin to Ethel Austin”. Moreover, there is no jewellers, stationer, shoe shop, ladies fashions or gents tailor in Dinbych. You’ll find all these in Rhuthun, of course.

This is perhaps why 92 per cent of people who commented at the recent KwikSave redevelopment exhibition that they were content with the proposals. I don’t recall such a consultation when the same property developer proposed Rhuthun’s Tesco. The views in Rhuthun were more polarised, with strong views on both sides.

Why, then, is Dinbych so strongly in favour of the supermarket-and-shops at the former KwikSave?

1. Dinbych already has a top-flight supermarket, in Morrison’s. There’s nothing to lose in having a second.
2. KwikSave is on a brownfield site. Quite an eyesore.
3. Dinbych is that bit nearer to Y Rhyl and therefore tends to see people shopping elsewhere.
4. The development is for multiple units and not a single let, like Rhuthun’s.

And why was and is Rhuthun less sure about the affects Tesco might and is having? It depends upon where you are. Convenience traders are more concerned than are comparison traders. Perhaps it’s that Rhuthun as a smaller town has just that bit more to lose, if trade turns down.

Perhaps also Rhuthun is less in need of an economic boost that the Station Yard redevelopment may give Dinbych, though this idea is speculative.