News

Pembrokeshire put on fashion map

Published

10 years ago

March 1, 2016

Photos by Chris Floyd

LAST WEEK Esquire fashion magazine sent their style director to Pembrokeshire to see if he could find clothes he would sport on the streets of London, in the counties local shops.

Style director for the magazine, Teo van den Broeke came to “The nation’s least densely populated region with £200 and a simple instruction: go shopping.” The task brief out laid.

Teo set out to see if he could prove that it is possible for a young man to dress with style and finesse wherever they live in the UK, so to do this he chose to start in St Davids: “I was to spend a day in the middle of nowhere, scouring local shops for wearable, affordable and, yes, even fashionable clothing that I would willingly bring back to London and absorb into my everyday wardrobe.”

Starting in the nations smallest city, he visited a charity shop to find his first piece of clothing: “The charity shop is run by a pair of charming ladies, Grace Davies and Mary Trott. They told me that they’d recently dressed a 16-year-old local boy for a “do” for 50 pence.”

“In that spirit, I snapped up a chunky teal fishmerman’s jumper for the bargain price of four pounds.”

Motivated by the first purchase he continued, and asked Oliver Blakiston, the young manager of St Davids’ Cross Hotel,where he shops: “I never buy clothes from St Davids, ever. If I’m going away, or if I’m going to Cardiff, I go shopping there. If I need anything proper, I go to the bigger shops in Haverfordwest,”

Taking on board part of what Oliver said, Teo then took a trip to Haverfordwest where he met with Matthew Locke from Mathews Menswear where he was told that youngsters looking to get the latest trends of clothing have to shop further afield to get them.

He delved deeper into the Men’s outfitters and found a number of pieces he liked, but most out of budget he said: “With prices starting around £200 a pair they were beyond my budget, but still prove that Haverfordwest is by no means a dead loss in the style stakes.”

Visiting The Pines, further along the road, Teo spoke with store owner Kayleigh Rogers who he said: “shed some light on the way local men dress.”

She said: “It’s funny, when you go out you can tell who the younger lads are, because they’re the ones who get suited and booted. They want to dress like the Essex boys they see on TV,” she laughs. “But as guys get older they slowly morph back into the Pembrokeshire way and just wear scabby jeans and T-shirts out. My friend Adam is the only person I know who is into designer clothes, but he can only get that stuff in London. He even went up to Edinburgh to buy a coat last week. That’s how far you need to go for good stuff.”

After talking with these shop owners and not finding anything he himself would wear, he then headed back towards St Davids and stopped at Solva where he visited the wool mill, he explained: “Set on the edge of a tiny stream and enveloped by overgrown pine trees, the mill looked like the kind of place where your grandma would have bought clothes back in the day,”

He continued: “with walls made of wood, and woollen jumpers, scarves and blankets piled up to the (dangerously low) ceiling.”

At the wool mill he found a knitted wool tie, which he described as: “a snip at £14”, he also said that the tie: “wouldn’t have looked out of place on the shelves of Drake’s in Mayfair.

At the same mill Chris Floyd, Esquire photographer bought a knitted fisherman’s jumper for £40.

So he carried on: “With a more positive head on my wool-clad neck, I headed back to Haverfordwest on a lead that there was an army surplus store somewhere in town that I’d missed first time around.”

At Brewer Army Surplus on Bridge Street he found a number of pieces he liked and explained his thoughts when he began to search: “I felt what was left of the £200 start to burn a hole in my pocket.”

At Brewers he bought a cropped navy-blue RAF bomber jacket for £18, a ribbed, midnight blue jumper with elbow patches for £20, a pair of bleached denim Lee jeans which he described as costing less than a lunch from Whole Foods in London at only £14.

And finally he purchased an M65 jacket for £30 which he went on to explain: “the nip in the waist and density of fabric made me think of something I tried on in Saint Laurent a few years ago (though that jacket came in at around £800)”.

He compared many of the things he found to be similar to those in fashion shows he had recently attended, and said that despite a few panicked hours searching he thinks it is more than possible to dress well, even if you live in the back end of beyond.”

Farming

Basic Payment Scheme 2025 balance paid to 95% of Welsh farmers

Published

8 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Final year of BPS as transition to Sustainable Farming Scheme begins

The WELSH Government says more than ninety-five per cent of farm businesses have now received their full or balance payment under the final year of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), ahead of the introduction of the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in 2026.

Announcing the update on Friday (Dec 12), Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, confirmed that over 15,400 Welsh farm businesses have been paid £68.7m. This comes on top of the £160m issued in BPS advance payments since 14 October.

Final round of BPS payments

The Basic Payment Scheme, which has been the backbone of farm support in Wales for a decade, provides direct income support to help farmers plan and manage their businesses. BPS 2025 marks the last year in which full BPS payments will be made before the scheme begins to be phased out.

The Cabinet Secretary said officials would “continue to process the outstanding BPS 2025 claims as soon as possible,” adding that all but the most complex cases should be completed by 30 June 2026.

Payments issued today represent the main balance due to farmers following earlier advances, giving many businesses the cash flow they need during the quieter winter period—traditionally a challenging time in the agricultural calendar.

Shift to Sustainable Farming Scheme in 2026

From 1 January 2026, the Welsh Government will begin rolling out the Sustainable Farming Scheme, a major reform to how agricultural support is delivered. The SFS will reward farmers for environmental outcomes such as habitat management, carbon reduction and biodiversity improvements, alongside continued food production.

The government has argued that the new scheme is essential to meeting Wales’ climate and nature targets while ensuring long-term resilience in the sector. However, the transition has been closely watched by farming unions, who have raised concerns about the administrative burden, income stability, and the speed at which BPS is being phased out.

Mr Irranca-Davies reaffirmed the government’s stance, saying: “This government is steadfastly committed to supporting Welsh farmers to sustainably produce quality food. This is demonstrated today in our payment of the BPS 2025 balance payments and will continue throughout the transition period.”

Sector reaction

Farming unions are expected to scrutinise the detail of today’s announcement, particularly around remaining unpaid cases. Last year, late payments led to frustration in parts of the sector, with unions calling for greater certainty as the industry faces rising input costs, supply chain pressures and continued market volatility.

The move to the SFS remains one of the most significant agricultural policy changes in Wales since devolution. Ministers insist the shift is designed to support both food production and environmental stewardship, while critics warn the transition must not undermine farm viability—especially for family-run livestock farms that dominate rural areas such as Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

What happens next

Farmers still awaiting their BPS 2025 balance will continue to be processed “as soon as possible”, the Welsh Government said. Officials will also publish updated guidance on the Sustainable Farming Scheme ahead of its launch.

The coming year will therefore become a pivotal moment for Welsh agriculture, as the long-standing BPS framework—which provided over £200m annually to Welsh farmers—makes way for a new results-based model that will shape the industry for decades to come.

News

Improved train timetable launches across Wales

Published

8 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Extra services, later trains and boosted Sunday routes as £800m rail investment takes effect

An improved train timetable has come into force across Wales today (Sunday, 14 December), with Transport for Wales (TfW) introducing more frequent services, stronger connections and additional late-night trains on key routes.

The winter timetable update brings one of the most substantial uplifts in recent years on the Wales and Borders network, forming part of the Welsh Government’s ongoing £800 million investment in brand-new rolling stock and reliability improvements.

More trains and later journeys

Among the upgrades, passengers will see:

A new hourly additional service between Chester and Wrexham, effectively doubling the frequency on one of the region’s busiest commuter corridors.
An extra train in each direction every day on the Heart of Wales line between Swansea and Shrewsbury.
Three later last trains from Cardiff to Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil, supporting shift workers and the night-time economy.
A new hourly Sunday service on the Coryton line in Cardiff.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates, said improved connectivity was “absolutely vital” for economic growth and passenger confidence.

“These changes will make a real difference to customers, who will benefit from more services and greater connectivity,” he said. “This has been made possible by our £800m investment in brand-new trains for the Wales and Borders network.

“We will see the doubling of trains between Wrexham and Chester and a later service from the capital to valley communities. In South Wales, people will continue to benefit from simpler, fairer fares through TfW’s Pay As You Go service, and its forthcoming introduction in North Wales will help even more passengers access easy, transparent pricing.”

Full details of the updated timetable are available at: tfw.wales/service-status/timetables

News

Wrecked guard boat still under watch off north Pembrokeshire coast

Published

8 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Tidal changes monitored after dramatic early-morning rescue

A GUARD VESSEL that ran aground off the north Pembrokeshire coast in the early hours of Thursday morning (Dec 11) remains under close observation as tides continue to shift.

The Resolute, a 24-metre guard boat understood to be working for an offshore wind project off the Irish coast, had been sheltering in worsening weather when she was pushed onto rocks near Aber Hywel, Dinas, shortly after 3:25am.

Four crew members were onboard when the vessel grounded in rough seas and a strong southerly wind.

Major rescue effort launched

The crew issued an emergency alert, prompting a full multi-agency response.
A coastguard rescue helicopter, both Fishguard RNLI lifeboats, and coastguard teams from Fishguard and St Davids were sent to the scene.

Turbulent air made a winch rescue impossible and Fishguard’s all-weather lifeboat was unable to get close due to cliffs and submerged hazards. The inshore lifeboat was instead deployed to attempt a transfer in extremely challenging conditions.

During the evacuation, the third crew member descending to the vessel’s life raft slipped, fell into the water and was swept away. Speaking afterwards, RNLI crew member Cedwyn Rogers said the team immediately switched into “hyper-focused” mode as training took over.

Despite the casualty drifting, helm Warren Bean — a volunteer with more than 30 years’ RNLI experience — manoeuvred the lifeboat alongside, allowing crew to haul the man to safety. The remaining crew member was then retrieved, and all four were taken aboard the all-weather lifeboat and brought ashore to Fishguard.

All rescue units were later stood down.

Vessel still stranded and taking on water

The Herald understands that the Resolute remained aground on the rocks yesterday and was taking on water. The crew were later assisted back onboard by a local fisherman to assess damage on behalf of the vessel’s operators.

Management representatives from Ireland were due to arrive to draw up a recovery plan, including arrangements to remove fuel to prevent any potential environmental impact.

Further inspections have been taking place today as the team evaluates the next steps.

Coastguard statement

A spokesperson for HM Coastguard said: “At 3.28am on Thursday morning, HM Coastguard was made aware of a vessel with four persons onboard aground on rocks at Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. RNLI lifeboats and coastguard rescue teams from Fishguard and St Davids were sent to the scene. The four people aboard were rescued by lifeboat, and the helicopter was stood down. The vessel, which is still aground, is being monitored as tidal conditions change.”