Pinc hitting the sweet spot for its local community

IF YOU happen to be a local you know it. If you've driven past by accident you'll remember it, and it's been here for 80 years, so a lot of people have. People have been spending pocket money here for decades and while the name has changed a fair few times two things have not - the colour and the sweets.

- INDIGO JONES Reporter indigo.jones@reachpic

The Pink Shop in Treforest has always been brilliant but now it's doing something extraordinarily fabulous.

Sian Perez and her sister-in-law Jazz Dicker run their own care and supported living service for adults with autism, learning disabilities and mental illness in the village called Crwban Care and Support.

The family-run company started over a Sunday dinner during the pandemic and has since developed in to a major part of the community. The pair have now expanded their horizons and taken over the oldest sweet shop in South Wales.

The Pink Shop in Pontypridd, now known as Pinc as a nod to the Welsh language, has been open since the 1940s but has recently had a modern makeover.

Sian, who had a care background, and Jazz, who had a nursing background, joined forces to help support adults with additional needs to gain more independence. When the opportunity came up to start their own businesses they said they just had to take it.

Jazz said: "We help individuals become independent in the community and live their best lives. Pink was never a part of our plan, but when we were given the opportunity, we couldn't turn it down because not only is the Pink Shop or now Pinc, iconic in Treforest, it also is going to be a place that we want our service users and our residents to be able to volunteer and become integrated members of society and be part of something pretty special."

Sian explained: "The Pink Shop is the oldest independent sweet shop in South Wales, so I think it started around the 1940s, and it's just changed over time so it's been a sweet shop since then and obviously we wanted to keep the sweets, but just add a bit more extra."