Brilliant Bookshops: Storyville, Pontypridd

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of visiting ‘Storyville’ in Pontypridd. According to the Official Pontypridd Town and Forum website, ‘The name (Pontypridd) may come from a contraction of Pont-y-ty-pridd, bridge of the earthen house in Welsh, or the Welsh for ‘bridge of earth’, since in earlier centuries, people took advantage of the shallowness of the River Taff here to cross it.’ Storyville can be found on Mill Street, which derived its name from various mills previously in this area.

Bright and airy, ‘Storyville’ is a delightful bookshop, well worth a visit. Although a small space, the shop is bursting with goodies and manages to feel uncluttered and welcoming. Not surprisingly, I headed straight for the children’s corner and was very impressed by what was on offer. Stock is obviously selected with great care, not only to reflect current titles, but also to showcase a wealth of Welsh authors with books offered in both Welsh and English. This is true not just of the children’s section, but of the whole shop which boasts a wonderful range of fiction and non-fiction titles as well as book-ish extras like cushions!

When I visited, the shop was arranged to accommodate an author event with Tracy Darnton as part of the Pontypridd Children’s Book Festival. The shop has an active programme of events and are involved with ‘PaperBound’, an online writing magazine, which looks excellent!

With its warm and welcoming staff and excellent selection of books, ‘Storyville’ is well worth a visit- even if you are not in the area! I will absolutely be returning and will combine another visit with walking the newly laid ‘The Mab’ trail, which offers 11 story stones with images from the book by Eloise Williams of the illustrations by Max Low. Sadly, being on crutches meant that I was unable to follow this trail on this visit!

Storyville, 8 Mill St, Pontypridd CF37 2SN