As part of a series encouraging you to discover our distinctive towns, this blog post focusses on the coastal town of Barry.
High Street, Island Road and Broad Street – on the western side of Barry – offer a super selection of shops and cafés, almost all owned by local people. These family-run businesses work together very successfully to promote this area as High Street Shopping Quarter. Within a small area, you’ll come across designer clothes, wooden toys, luxury items for your home and gorgeous florists.
Artists and makers from across Wales are showcased at Homemade Wales – everything from limited edition prints, to beautiful ceramics and Welsh language greetings cards. For luxury, handcrafted chocolate, you won’t want to miss Cocoa Therapy. While some shops are new ventures, others have been part of Barry for decades; Vic Hopkins & Son Family Butchers have been sourcing and serving the very best meat for over 50 years!
For a lunch break, why not pop into one of the friendly cafés, Food for Thought deli and sandwich bar or Paletta Pizzeria, then take a short stroll to the Grade II listed Romilly Park. This Green Flag park, with tree-lined paths, beautiful summer floral displays and a kid’s playground, is a splendid place to enjoy your sandwiches!
Holton Road - on the eastern side of Barry - is another shopping area worth exploring. The independent retailers include Wild Botanic, which has the coolest selection of house plants, and Awesome Wales, the Vale’s first zero waste store (which has another branch in Cowbridge). At Awesome, your shopping experience is plastic-free: buy food, toiletries and cleaning materials by refilling your own jars or containers.
In a Victorian Pumphouse in the historic heart of Barry Docks is the Academy Espresso Bar. As well as serving outstanding coffee, food and cocktails, Academy Espresso Bar hosts a variety of events with live music sessions.
Nearby are the Goodsheds, which takes its name from the 1880s red brick building formerly used by the railway. This shopping and eating destination also makes imaginative use of repurposed shipping containers and railway carriages to provide a home for a lively blend of independent food & drink venues, craft outlets and boutique retailers.
Discover the Vale’s other shopping destinations: Cowbridge, Llantwit Major and Penarth.
Vale Town Centres showcases all the great places to shop across all four towns in the Vale. ❤ Barry ❤ Cowbridge ❤ Penarth ❤ Llantwit Major❤
Take a look so you can find some great places to shop when you visit. It also gives some great tips on some of our local cafe's and restaurants.
