Sorry We Are Closed

Mathry General Stores has remained unchanged for - how long? It looked just the same 30 years ago when I first saw it, and even then it seemed a throwback to the 1950s. Over the years it acquired a certain notoriety for its refusal to make any concessions to modernity and it captured the affections of many a holiday visitor with its perverse charm. Sadly, it closed its doors for the last time a year or so ago.

As I remember it in the early 80s, the shop's cavernous interior was shabby and dusty with ill-matched counters and ceiling-high shelves not-exactly packed with items that could hardly be described as essentials. There were yellowing postcards and outdated toys, a few tools and some basic foodstuffs that only desperation would make you purchase. The post office occupied one corner and the atmosphere was permeated with the smell of paraffin. That the place survived so long seems hard to credit but no doubt it had its afficionados, mostly, I would imagine, elderly inhabitants of this hilltop village who were reluctant to venture further afield.

Now the place is empty - but looks unchanged. The telephone box is 'listed' and remains in use as does the post box (but not the ancient petrol pump to the left of the picture.) Most of Mathry's rustic buildings have been renovated and converted now and that may be the old shop's fate too. It would be a sad loss.

[Many images of the General Stores can be found on the Internet but I believe that [url=http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/948460]mine[/url] taken in 2007 is the only interior shot.]