The Children's Society refurbished shop opened on November 6th. It offered slightly less retail space and altered the position of the counter & till.
Boot's the Chemist is under external refurbishment, or that's what this picture suggests. It took two days to get this scaffolding up. Aside from changing the signage for something more corporately modern, Boot's last saw a major refurbishment in 1987.
On November 28th, &Vintage took up residence on St Peter's Square, in the former front-of-house at Vanity Fayre. This is a good move for the business, as trading on the Square offers significant rewards over other streets and it also shows that &Vintage is prepared to stay the course, having established itself exactly three years ago. The only cocern, however, is that it leaves a Well Street gap in a unit that for many years remained unlet till &Vintage arrived. Indeed, after the butcher on the premises closed, the unit became something of an eyesore, needing significant refurbishment. This began in February 2012 and &Vintage occupied it from December 2012 onwards. The unit's currently to let at £450 per week..
Meanwhile, the commercial premises formerly occupied by
Clough & Co are now posted as SSTC. Clough & Co's agricultural business recently moved out to the mart extension, leaving its longstanding Rhuthun office as surplus. It continues to have a small frontage on Dinbych's High Street.
The Co-operative Bwyd continues to see a significant staff turn-over and in late November was once again recruiting.
Rhuthun's latest female hairdresser opened in November. Chosen was not the particularly adventurous name of the House of Hair & Beauty. At least there was no lame pun involved, as usually befits a hair shop.
The dry October changed into the damp but still mild November. The first snows on the tops and in town were both very late, about two weeks in fact, on November 20th. It affected the town only very slightly, with snow caught in crevices only. Meanwhile, on the tops, the snow was also thin. Even after the snowfall, there was evidence of unseasonal daisies on town lawns, many of which were already woolly from late growth, looking more like spring than autumn.
The
double fronted house on Castle Street is now finished and stands in a steel blue-grey proudly next to the previously repainted ochre house to its right.
Whatever happened to this tree in Market Street? Lopped back w/b November 16th, it resembles more of a log than a tree. Presumably it's height at about five feet is to ensure that no one trips over a low stump.
Talking of trees, the Christmas tree was illuminated during the Christmas entertainment of November 28th. This did not go to plan. The morning was busy in town & also dry but heavy rain and winds swept in for the afternoon. Although largely clear by 4. p.m. the event organisers decided not to closure the Square as planned and instead moved the entertainment, which included a short panto, to St Peter's. The market stalls moved in, too. Both Ysgolion Rhos Styreet a Phenbarras children took part and the area was busy with children & parents commuting between their cars and the church. I returned to a wet Rhuthu at 3 p.m. to find the market had long since moved, streams of water gushing down both gutters of Clwyd Street and signs blown over. The afternoon was much like any Saturday afternoon in toen—nearly deserted. So much for free parking granted that day.
Before the tree was decorated (upper shot) it was awkwardly leaning (above)
November 28th at nightfall: Rhuthun deserted, though there were parents escorting children on and around the Square to the church
Plenty of signs appeared in Rhuthin during November to advertise Small Business Saturday, on December 5th.
A new member of staff has joined Chatwin's. He may be a Saturday help. He has a Bale-inspired man bun and a huge ear-ring the size of a tiddly wink or button in his lobe. We recall the occasional help in the main Co-op where an employee, formerly of B & M, has had a variety of hairstyles & colours including a man bun and beards. Why mention this? Well, it's a reminder of how things change. Such things are almost universally accepted these days. It does, however, remind us of the 1994 scandal when the former Lo-cost (now Co-op) supermarket threatened to sack two male members of staff unless they cut off their pony tails. Both employees stood firm. The "root" of the issue was a L-cost national survey that said customers preferred clean-shaven, short haired men (indeed, there was talk at the time of Lo-cost ensuring male staff did not sport beards, something else that has changed markedly, with facial hair now being very popular). Talking of which, Isaac Birchall, once known for his own pony tail, has now gone even further than last month's haircut with the shortest of short back and sides. It looks military grade.
