My family lived in Rhymney when I was born in 1929 - just in time for the Depression. When I was four, we moved from there to Roath. For most of my early years, life was bound by Albany Road and City Road, and most of our shopping was done there. There were also frequent trips to 'town'.

We often shopped in Cappers grocery shop in Church Street, where a kind man used to give me a Garibaldi biscuit from a glass-topped tin whenever we went there.

I liked the thick carpets in Howells department store, and the revolving door at the St Mary Street entrance. I recall asking my mother what the sign 'Manchester' department meant. It sounds very antiquated now.

We never went to town on a Thursday because that was 'Hills Day'. Cardiff's early closing day was Wednesday, but most of the small valley towns closed on Thursday - so Cardiff was always taken over by people from the Valleys on that day. My mother and grandmother considered them a noisy lot, so we didn't mingle.

I've never seen such crowded shops as I remember seeing in Cardiff in those days - from the early thirties up to the outbreak of the World War II.

We had a Woolworths store in Queen Street that was the biggest I've ever seen. It was truly colossal. I'm sure its not just my child's-eye view playing me tricks.

In spite of its size there were times when you couldn't just walk straight in - or out. On many Saturdays, especially around Christmas, you could only shuffle along with the crowd and try to make progress in the direction you wanted.

I can recall standing on the landing halfway up the broad staircase in the middle of the store, looking down on the crowd. I saw only counters with people jammed together around them - there was no floor space visible at all. It wasn't too bad if you had your hands free, but if you were already laden with shopping then you were pretty helpless in such a mass of humanity.

On one occasion, on the upper floor, a long, long way from the entrance downstairs, I heard a woman shout 'Make for outs our Maggie'. She couldn't see her friend/sister/daughter or whoever Maggie was. She could only shout a message across the crowd and hope that it would be heard.

Another big store was Marks & Spencer at the corner of Queen Street and Charles Street. It wasn't quite as large as Woolworths, but it acquired an extra attraction in about 1937 - namely an escalator.

It was the first one in Cardiff I believe. I'm sure many people went there just to try the novelty. I know I did.

I don't believe that shopping was more popular then than it is now, but in those days people had far less leisure time than they do today. Most people worked a five and a half day week, and nearly all shops were closed on Sundays. That left only Saturday afternoons. What else could people do? They simply had to put up with the congestion. There was a certain atmosphere of enjoyment about it. It was exciting to be out among large crowds if you had no responsibilities and no parcels to carry.

I can still remember the smells of Central Market in Cardiff that stretched from St Mary Street to the Hayes. It was a huge building. The upper floor was a wide gallery, and there was a fine, arched roof high above.

It was filled with the combined scents of flowers, vegetables, cheese, bacon, poultry, meat, livestock, pets, and of the sawdust on the floor too - not forgetting Ashtons fish stalls either side of the Hayes entrance.

Such smells are very nostalgic. You don't encounter them so much nowadays, probably because so much food is wrapped and packaged now.

There was also a smaller outdoor fruit and veg market on the triangle of pavement beside the central library. Late on Saturday evenings with the stalls lit by gas and electric lamps, it was the last chance to shop before they closed until Monday.There would be frantic last-minute buying and selling, with stallholders knocking down their prices and the gutters filled with cabbage leaves, rotten tomatoes - pure entertainment!

Les Carter - December 2003