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Over the past few decades, the Rhondda has sadly seen many, many workingmens’ clubs and pubs close their doors for good.

Pubs such as The Anchor in Ferndale, Charmonds in Porth, Pentre’s Griffin and The Star in Ystrad have all long closed down. Some of the buildings remain derelict, some have been converted into shops or cannabis factories and others completely demolished, just like the famous Maerdy Hall that hosted some of Tom Jones’ earliest performances.

Rhondda men and women of all ages used to enjoy the Pub Crawl, walking from one pub to the next, having one or two drinks in each establishment, and never needing to catch a bus, train or taxi, because the pubs and clubs we so close together. Sadly, these days, the pubs are so spread out, walking between them is not an option, which spells the death of the pub crawl in the Rhondda.

Now, thanks to the likes of Aldi, Lidl an Asda, building shops practically on top of each other in the valleys, Rhondda folk have started to go on the Supermarket Crawl and it’s a lot cheaper than drinking in pubs too.

Jonathan Spleen from North Road, Porth told My Rhondda News, “Since Aldis has opened it’s brilliant, me and the boys buy four cans of Bow in Morrisons, walk to Aldis where we buy another round, then up to Lidls for another, we then head up to Tonypandy, where we grab some food in Asdas plus another four pack of Bow.”

Mr P Goose, the landlord of a pub in Tonypandy said, “It’s absolutely ridiculous really, since all these big shops opened I’m struggling to make ends meet, I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”

Spleen continued, by the time we get to the Co-op in Treorchy we’re shit-faced, and we’ve only spent about fifteen quid each, it works out about a pound a pint.”

Mary Fringe from Blaenllechau said, “We can only dream of a pub or supermarket crawl in Blaen, since the Rad closed we’ve got bugger all up here.”

Have you got a favourite supermarket crawl, what’s your route? Perhaps you combine the big shops with smaller off licenses and maybe even the odd pub too. Please comment below, we’d love to hear about where you do your crawls.

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