Mother and daughter Rose and Nicole Seaward invested £7,000 in opening a food business in Cwmbran’s Marketplace (‘In Shops’).
They proudly served their first customers at The Hungry Fork on 1 March 2025, yet just 12 days later a planning application was submitted to turn the location of their new business into an indoor adventure park.
The application by L&C Investments Ltd, the owners of ‘M Cwmbran’ went out to consultation and was approved on 16 May – 76 days after the pair made the brave move of working for themselves rather than someone else.
Cwmbran Life met Nicole this morning. She said: “The whole thing has been mind-boggling. We were raring to go [on 1 March]. Everything was good.
“I don’t see why [we were] allowed to open knowing full well this was happening.”
Three weeks after starting up they had a letter from the company that collects their rent saying the site would be closing at the end of June.
Nicole said: “[We spent] a lot of money. It was about £7,000 on getting everything ready and they then told us that three weeks after that we’re not getting a penny back. We will be pushing for something.
“Since the notice went up on the main door, the decline of customers has been astronomical. The money has completely sunk. We’re trying our best to put on offers and stuff like that on to try and get customers back in there for the duration that we’re open.”
She said they’d been told “on more than one occasion” that they’d get an outdoor space in the town centre, but would have to buy the unit themselves and it still wouldn’t be “guaranteed.”
She’s planning to have a trial day trading at Pontypool Market tomorrow – Saturday 31 May – but doesn’t feel “they’ve got many options at the moment”.
Cwmbran Life contacted LCP Properties on 15 May for a comment but has yet to receive a response. Their response will be published when it’s received.