Book Town’s A Success – But Can The Locals Afford It?

The experiment that transformed Blaenavon into a town of book shops has been a big success. But now, can the locals afford to live there? “A year ago anyone who suggested that the same thing could happen in Blaenavon, valley of the squinting plywood, would have been laughed all the way back down the mountain to the M4. Property in the town was in terrible condition, but cheap as chips. Now much of it is still in terrible condition, but you get far fewer chips to the pound. Local people stand in front of the estate agents, staring at the photographs, their jaws dropping.”