Llanelli Town Centre Re-opening Day

Today's re-opening of the town centre saw a good crowd gathered around Central Square – and with precisely the sort of weather we wanted.

Tin Dragon kept a watch on events and had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

By 07:30, most of the market stalls were set up, with everything from fresh veg and jewellery to lawnmowers and inflatable Sponge Bobs neatly displayed along Stepney Street and Vaughan Street.

At 08:00, the final traces of construction work – those ugly plastic construction fences – were cleared away and the new brick paving was given a last-minute sweep.

From 10:00 onwards, four competing teams from local primary schools opened up shop, selling various hand-made items in attempt to earn the most profit and win the Carmarthenshire Young Traders contest 2013. Yet these young entrepreneurs looked beyond that money-centric measure of success and took pride in their enterprises, some promising to donate all their profits to charities.

Each team received a £100 budget from local sponsors, including: the St. Elli shopping centre; Plush Lettings property management; The Sweetie Palace; Rook's Trophies; and Hungry Horse.

"I'm one of these people who eats 5 fruits a day. Llanelli has 5 major projects, and this is one that has really transformed Llanelli." - Cllr Terry Davies

Just after 10:20, Councillor Terry Davies addressed the crowd for the inauguration of the newly renovated town centre. Having drawn a parallel between this completed regeneration project and a fruit, the Councillor thanked the audience and lifted the EU flag cover to unveil an information board dedicated to the new ERDF-funded installations in Central Square.

 Following this, Llangennech Primary School choir took centre stage under the glaring sun.

The town centre remained full of shoppers through the afternoon, Llanelli Outdoor Market firmly in place for the remainder of the week. Meanwhile, upstairs in the library, artwork by local schoolchildren was on display for the Llanelly House art contest initiative. Given that the competition award ceremony was held yesterday, today's exhibition was a quiet affair (at least around the time I dropped in). In another part of the library, representatives from County Council Leisure department were at hand to discuss geocaching, an activity that combines technology with outdoor exploration. Tin Dragon sees great potential for this in the area and will soon be involved in the Summer Geocache Challenge - more on that coming soon!

As is customary in the town, a lack of publicity for local events was evident today. Free parking in Council-run carparks, a measure intended to draw more visitors to the opening ceremony, was announced at the last minute, and an absence of exhibtion/geocaching signs outside the library meant that very few people were able to enjoy the full array of today's events.

On the plus side, with the unveiling of the information board in Central Square, we now know a bit more about that big glass structure – previously described as a 'glass umbrella' – and the mysterious 'bench'.

The Glass Canopy was designed by Laura Thomas, a woven textile artist and a specialist in textile artworks for public spaces. Laura is also a part-time Textiles tutor at Coleg Sir Gar, and carried out the Glass Canopy project in cooperation with project manager, Emma Price and contractor Alun Griffiths. Construction resources were provided by Innovative Glass Products, based in Clydach, and Staffordshire manufacturer, Broxap , contributed to the engineering of the canopy (find a detailed write-up of Glass Canopy here).

The individual glass panes are patterned, with inspiration derived from quilting textiles, carbon fibre, copper mesh and stainless steel – all relevant to the town's industrial past. The contrast between quilting and metalworks also highlights the integral role of women during industrial times, reflecting the division of labour between the tinplate works and domestic textile production. Check out Laura's early photos of the installation here.

Next on the information board, we have official confirmation of the name of the new seating arrangement/bench thing: the Bench. I bet no-one expected that.

Harking back once more to the tinplate era, London-based architect company, Dallas Pierce Quintero, replicated the folding process used in thin-gauge tinplate production to design a unique type of bench. A deep teal colour finish was intended to resemble that of raw steel, and words associated with tinplate production, in both English and Welsh, are inscribed on parts of the metal.


On close inspection, Tin Dragon noticed that some the colour finish is already starting to peal. Let's hope that a scuffed appearance is the worst we have to look forward to (and not someone successfully engaging with public art by jamming a few body parts in it).

More updates –as ever– coming soon!

Tin Dragon.

Town Centre Official Opening

If I hadn't caught word of it only this evening, there would have been a post much earlier. Let's cut to the chase: tomorrow marks the inauguration of the renovated town centre, completing one of five keystone regeneration projects in Llanelli.

As part of the ADREF programme – jointly funded by Carmarthenshire County Council and the European Regional Development Fund – £4.3 million has been invested in enhancing the town centre.

For 'streetscene' improvements, £2.9m was allocated to:

• the replacement of canopies along Vaughan Street and Stepney Street (£200,000);
• the installation of a free-standing stainless steel and glass canopy structure engraved with public art, accompanied by new sitting facilities;
• and the creation a newly-paved Central Square at the entrance of St. Elli Shopping Centre.

Around £1.4 million has been allocated to town centre businesses:

• Grants of up to £15,000 were offered to local businesses to facilitate a systematic renovation of property frontages (through Town Improvement Grants) and expansions of commercial floor space into/refurbishment of derelict sites (through Property Development Grants) within the town centre.

These 'environmental enhancements' have been complemented by the ADREF 'showcase' project, which seeks to inform the public of the regeneration programme in Llanelli and to convey the vision and values of town planners.

So, the renovation works are finally complete. When Central Square is opened to the public tomorrow morning, people will have much to contemplate for years to come – particularly the new seating arrangement:

What do you make of it?

Will it be easy to snag a coat or break a finger on these benches? Or will they serve as a neat place to chain a bike or tie a dog?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

contact me: @draigdun / Facebook / Google+ / email

Events begin at 10:30 tomorrow morning, with an official opening of Llanelli town centre, at Central Square. Following this, Llangennech Primary School choir will perform, and Carmarthenshire Young Traders competition 2013 will take place – a 'market trading competition' in Llanelli Outdoor Market featuring four local Primary Schools – from 10am until 2pm. Radio Carmarthenshire will also be in the centre broadcasting events live throughout the day.

The Outdoor Market is making a come-back (bigger than ever, apparently) on Thursday and Saturday, with everything from handmade jewellery, greetings cards, Welsh cakes, paintings, crafts, a cart full of sugary stuff, and more, on sale.

The 'Who do you think you art?' exhibition will be held upstairs in Llanelli library, featuring more than 250 art pieces on display throughout June. Introduction to Geocaching sessions will be also held at the library.

For the full list of events, click here.

If you can't make it, here's a Quidditch player's eye view of the new shopping centre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTsHKZonvdo (note the depressing <1,000 views since it was uploaded in 2011)

P.S: Carms County Council are relenting on the parking issue, inviting everyone to park free of charge in all Council-run car parks. Just for the launch day.

We have a Central Square.

Most urban areas have a central open space. A space where everybody ends up at some point in their day, regardless of where they intended to be. These spaces often provide clues to the kind of metropolis in which you find yourself.

Big piazza: big city.

Squeaky-clean civic centre: top-notch street-cleaning service.

Empty market square: ghost town.


Some towns have more than one 'main' square, some less central than others. And some towns give their central open spaces a name – perhaps because town planners attach such great importance to their civic centres, squares, and plazas, or simply because it's convenient.

Llanelli's nominee for such a place is located at the intersection of Vaughan Street and Stepney Street – outside Boots and directly opposite the St Elli shopping centre.

Although not strictly a square or a quadrilateral, it measures roughly 40 x 30 metres (130 x 100 ft) and has become a centrepiece of the ADREF town centre scheme.

It's name?

Central Square.

That's according to at least two press releases from County Council (December 2012 ; April 2013 ).

Ac yn gymraeg..? 'Sgwâr Canolog'?



Anyway, Tin Dragon is pleased to reveal that, as of June 3rd 2013  'Central Square' has now been added to Google Maps.

Until very recently, the Square featured a couple of red bricked flower beds and a raised performance area. These reminders of the town's era of stagnation were removed late 2012 and are currently being replaced by a new central canopy structure which complements the main canopy installation along the retail district.

The central feature comprises a large stainless steel and glass 'umbrella' engraved with public art. Woven around it is a fascinating seating arrangement constructed of dark folded steel strips that currently look quite… dangerous! We'll see how it feels when it's all complete.

Do you have any good memories of the old Square? Maybe you could suggest a better name for it?
And what are your thoughts on this renovation?

Please let me know in the comments below or on Facebook / Twitter / Google+!

I'll meet you at the Square.

Tin. °—°