Traders at Cwmbran 'in shops' angry over short notice eviction
Plans to transform the building into an 'indoor adventure park' left traders without much choice or say in the matter.
These traders shared their reactions to, what they say is, short notice news.
Sabina Bthaba who runs Cwmbran Beauty Lounge in the shop (Image: NQ) Sabina Bthaba, 30, runs Cwmbran Beauty Lounge.
She's been running her beauty salon inside the building for the past three years.
Before news of the in shops closure Sabina spent money upgrading her business to a bigger space within the building.
She told the Argus: 'It's really disappointing that they have done this to us.
"They knew that it's going to close soon but they let me spend money around £500 to £600 in a new shop.
'I started decorating and spending money and then they told us that it's going to close down now. They said they can't do anything it's just happened.'
Sabina Bthaba of Cwmbran Beauty Lounge with a customer (Image: NQ) Like other traders she was also promised help relocating however this isn't a reality anymore.
Sabina said: 'They said they would relocate me somewhere in the town and provide me with a space in the town but now it's not happening.'
Breakfast Café run by 40-year-old Sebastian Melo is a new business in the 'in shops.'
The café specialises in Persian and Afghan cuisine and had only been operating for a few weeks before news broke out of the buildings closure.
Sebastian Melo of Breakfast Café in the shop (Image: NQ) Speaking of the businesses short lived time Sebastian said: 'It's a new business we've been here one month, and it's growing very slowly and sadly we have to close this business.
'It cost more than £2000 to start up now we have no chance.
'You can imagine how hard it is to find a place and relocate all the items and kitchen stuff.'
Nicole Seward of The Hungry Fork (Image: Nicole Seward) Similarly to Sebastian 26-year-old Nicole Seaward invested £7,000 in opening her food business The Hungry Fork.
Sadly, just weeks after the business launched, she learnt of the in shops closure.
Speaking of the ordeal Nicole said: 'I'm quite angry to be fair only because they must have known this was happening before, we were given the contract.
'Three weeks after we opened, we had a three-month contract to move out they should have said is it worth opening here.'
'I've spent £7,000 and I'm not getting a penny back.'
The inside of the Hungry Fork (Image: Nicole Seaward) Nicole was also promised help relocating but this has fallen short.
'It's awful and they've promised us a space out the front in the town centre, but we've got to buy our own container or unit, so we've now got to go through a government grant to get something for us to go in and that's got to go through planning.
'All I can say is that we've been led down a complete garden path."
The building itself will shut on June 28.
Staff at M Cwmbran and LCP Properties both responsible for the 'in shops' have been contacted for further comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economist
2 days ago
- Economist
Forbidden fruit
Your browser does not support this video. | Al Aweer and Dubai In the small town of Al Aweer, about 20km east of Dubai's city centre, lorries full of fruit and vegetables approach, circle and pass each other, in a skilful dance. Think of it as a kind of bulk-trade ballet, set to a score of horns, beeps and roaring engines. At the back of warehouses, staff in branded polo shirts handle crates of fresh produce. At the front, wholesale shops entice customers from elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and beyond. The one-square-km market, already the largest such hub in the Middle East, plans to double in size to cater to the Gulf's expanding population. It is one symbol of the region's consumer appetites. It is also the secret theatre for smuggling on a grand scale—crushing local farmers, compromising supermarket supply chains and providing a lifeline to Iran. The Islamic Republic, on the other side of the Gulf, is in a serious pickle. After its war with Israel, it is more isolated than ever. Its oil exports are still flowing, but it is struggling to collect the proceeds because America keeps cranking up sanctions on anyone helping it move money. Britain, France and Germany are threatening to restore their own embargoes unless it resumes nuclear negotiations in earnest. That is pushing Iran to find new ways to pay for the foreign goods it so desperately needs. Flooding the Gulf with fruit and veg is one of them. Iran now supplies nine out of ten cauliflowers, tomatoes and watermelons imported by the UAE, a near-monopoly built in just a few years. That is a baffling phenomenon. Although Iran's food exports are not under direct sanctions, most shippers, banks and retailers think the country is too risky to bother dealing with. That should make it impossible for its farm trade to thrive. And there is another puzzle. If you visit supermarkets in Dubai, you will see few obvious signs of Iran's success. A paltry amount of shelf space is dedicated to Persian produce. So who is buying Iran's booming food exports? And where do the groceries end up? To find out, The Economist has talked to a range of farmers, wholesalers and retailers, as well as clandestine traders in Iranian goods. To confirm what they told us, we gathered proprietary trade data and corroborated it with official figures. Our investigation suggests groceries from Iran are being flogged in secret and en masse to unknowing customers across the Gulf—including countries that profess to import none, such as Saudi Arabia. The intricate supply chain reveals conflicts of interest at the highest levels. Middlemen make fortunes; local farmers get squeezed. Iran made perhaps $4bn-5bn from such exports in 2024. And it is just getting started. Blessed with a varied climate, fertile soil and ample sunlight, Iran has the natural endowments to be an agricultural powerhouse. The industry, which provides a living for 23m Iranians and 80% of their food, already accounts for a fifth of non-oil exports. The government subsidises water, fertilisers and energy until they are virtually free. It also bankrolls farmers so they can afford the nifty technology, such as hydroponics, to grow high-value produce. Iran's greenhouse cultivation has more than tripled in area since the early 2010s. Much of its modern irrigation equipment comes indirectly from Israel, a leader in the field. (It usually arrives as part of bigger packages of kit and services provided by companies based in friendlier countries, such as the Netherlands.) Lately a growing share of the equipment has also come from China and Russia. The government bestows such largesse on farmers because their foreign sales are now so valuable to the country. Their exports are one of the few ways the country can obtain the imported goods it so desperately needs. Foreign currencies, such as dollars and dirhams, are vanishingly scarce and therefore exceedingly precious. Anything that eases this hard-currency constraint is worth lavishing with vast domestic resources. The veggie-melon hegemon Neither Iran nor the UAE release up-to-date, detailed trade figures. But we managed to gather private data, based on customs reports from third countries, which provide a fresh and comprehensive picture. Although the source wishes to remain anonymous, The Economist has cross-checked its figures with partial statistics released by the United Nations and other official bodies. The numbers suggest Iran's strategy is proving wildly successful. It already dominates the market for 15 commodities in the UAE, from aubergines to melons. The story is similar, on a smaller scale, in Oman and Qatar. Volumes are soaring; quality is improving, too. Once limited to basic tomatoes on the vine, Iran now excels at the cherry variety, the trickiest kind. Sources say it is building strawberry farms which could crush the competition in two to three years. To understand how Iran's produce gets to market, start at the farm gate. Unlike oil, which is pumped by a state-owned monopoly, the country's veggies are produced by 36,000 small growers. That output is bundled and stacked onto trailers, which are towed to Bandar Lengeh in the south of Iran. It is then loaded at dawn onto smallish ships, which ferry it to Sharjah, in the UAE's north. The journey takes only six hours. Transporting a container of fruit from Iran's farms to Emirati warehouses costs just 8,000 dirhams ($2,200). Shipping fruit from Egypt or Turkey costs four times as much. KUWAIT IRAN Dayyer The Gulf Bandar Abbas Bandar Lengeh Other possible sea routes Sirik BAHRAIN Jask QATAR Sharjah Riyadh Abu Dhabi Al‑Qifiri'ah Gulf of Oman UAE Ibri SAUDI ARABIA Muscat OMAN 200km Possible routes to market 1 Departs from Bandar Lengeh port, Iran 2 Shipped to Sharjah port in UAE 3 By road to Al Aweer food market 4 By road to Al Aziziyah or Halaga food markets in Saudi Arabia. Or 5 By road to Silal central market in Oman 6 On to Ibri in Oman 7 Along the Oman-Saudi Desert Highway to Al Qifiri'ah in Saudi Arabia, and then on to food markets. Most of the Iranian produce coming into Sharjah is registered at customs. But then it has to be paid for. Doing so openly is hard, because Emirati banks are reluctant to process transactions involving Iran. The trade therefore relies on an informal payment system called hundi. It is run by tiny entities with offices across Dubai, which often feature 'transportation', 'goods' and 'services' in their company names. In the UAE, their agents collect dirhams from food importers, which they pass on to exporters of appliances, auto parts and machinery that Iran desperately needs. These goods are then shipped across the Gulf to Iran. Foodstuffs, priced in Iranian rials, flow one way. Vital manufactured goods, priced in dirhams or dollars, flow in the opposite direction. But dirhams need never be exchanged for rials. From Sharjah, local lorries pull the trailers to Al Aweer—which is where the real magic happens. The Gulf-wide trade in Iranian produce is run by the market's wholesalers, according to interviews with direct witnesses. It is they who place orders with Iranian traders, find buyers in the UAE and beyond, and orchestrate logistics. They also feed intelligence back to Iran on the evolution of consumer demand, say two market participants. Emirati merchants are behind Iran's novel push into strawberries, for example. Wholesalers rarely import from Iran directly, preferring to source the goods via one or more intermediaries. That affords some deniability. In a message seen by The Economist, an executive at one such firm makes oblique references to his Iranian offerings, boasting about the big volumes he is able to secure. Most wholesalers of Iranian goods also hide their origin by mixing them with groceries from elsewhere. Camouflaging teams sometimes occupy a warehouse's entire floor. One classic trick is to keep legitimate produce on the top layer of a box while swapping the rest for cheaper fruit. Sometimes the Iranian food is repackaged in fake versions of boxes from reputable brands, in the hope of deterring inspections. These tactics shield wholesalers from unwanted scrutiny. Hiding Iranian fruit also helps them make a lot more money. On the day we visited one trader in Al Aweer, he had a container of cut-price Iranian broccoli just outside his office. In 2024, he said, an Iranian exporter offered him ten containers a day of tomatoes—equivalent to 200 tonnes—at the cost of 1 dirham per kg (including transport). Farmers in the UAE must typically charge 2 dirhams per kg to break even; Dutch supplies cost at least five times that. By pretending they are selling full boxes of this pricier fruit, without any cheap Iranian varieties in the mix, wholesalers inflate their margins. The same goes for the supermarkets that buy their produce. Purchasing officers who turn a blind eye to the fraud often get a kickback from the wholesaler. It is not rare for managers of fruit-and-vegetable sections to do some blending themselves, too. They might mix Iranian tomatoes with Dutch varieties to make a bigger display. 'Instead of 4-5 dirhams, they sell the lot for 20-25 dirhams' per kg, says an insider. There is a lot of money to be made. One local supermarket chain is known for flying its staff in business class and lodging them in five-star hotels. Other UAE supermarkets, which include the local franchises of European giants like Carrefour and Waitrose, try harder to root out the deception. That explains why many retailers replace their grocery chiefs nearly every year. Rootless veggies and undercover kiwis The UAE is also a base for shady re-exports. One insider reckons a third of the country's imports of Iranian veggies end up in other countries. Much of this produce is smuggled. Saudi Arabia, for example, has long blocked fruit imports from Iran, a regional rival subject to Western sanctions that are tricky to navigate. The kingdom's customs officers will reject an entire shipment if they find a lone box with Farsi writing or even Persian numbers. Its enforcers also require sanitary certificates for incoming cargo that specify where it is from. Yet fooling them is easy, says an Emirati trader who does it a lot. 'We just put a sticker on the carton with a new origin: Azerbaijan, Turkey—anything but Iran.' To launder Iranian produce, traders also re-use paperwork issued for legitimate shipments: Italian kiwis and Spanish broccoli are frequent covers. This kind of fruit impersonation annoys bona fide exporters. Diplomats from various European countries have complained about it, to no avail. The crushing dominance of Iranian produce, facilitated by local firms, also makes a mockery of government plans to revive homegrown agriculture. In its national economic strategy, the UAE aims to top the Global Food Security Index—a benchmark by Economist Impact, our sister company—by 2051. Dubai is building a two-square-km 'Food Tech Valley'. Abu Dhabi is planning the world's largest indoor farm, to grow 10,000 tonnes of greens a year. Sharjah is sowing 1,400 hectares with wheat. Such flashy ventures, backed by a who's who of state funds and Western investors, are all meant to advance one goal: 'enhancing local food production'. In reality, local farms are withering. The UAE counts 35,000 estates, some of them large. One vegetable grower in Al Ain, the country's farming hub, employs nearly 400 staff to cultivate an area equivalent to 100 football pitches. He says his production of tomatoes has plummeted because a glut in overall supply has dragged prices down. The government's laissez-faire approach, he says, is 'destroying local farmers'. Emirati officials are aware of the problem. Their trade analysts have access to up-to-date data, says someone familiar with the country's government. Last year the economy ministry launched an anti-dumping investigation into mushrooms exported from Iran, according to a poster seen by The Economist. But the trade continues apace. Adding a layer of intrigue, some of Al Aweer's biggest wholesalers are controlled by people in power. Silal, an outfit founded to bolster food security during the covid-19 pandemic, belongs to ADQ, one of Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth funds. NRTC, a 50-year-old trader with 1,000 staff, is 41% owned by IHC, a conglomerate run by an Emirati royal. Why would the UAE—and other Gulf countries—tolerate Iran's green invasion? Perhaps they hope cheap imports will keep inflation down. They may also think that appeasing Iran will reduce the chances it lashes out against them if Israel strikes again. Some even posit that some Gulf leaders are ready to sacrifice local farming to help save scarce groundwater in a notoriously dry part of the world. Whatever the reason, relying on Iran is hardly a safe choice. Should it be bombed again, trade may dwindle. More frequent droughts are making its output increasingly volatile anyway, exposing importers to price shocks. However tempting, bingeing on Iranian produce looks like a recipe for trouble. Illustration:More from
Reuters
3 days ago
- Reuters
Pakistan's crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online
KARACHI/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 29 (Reuters) - Pakistan's crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead. Many unlicensed exchange shops have been shut since July 22, when the military spy agency summoned representatives of the sector to explain the U.S. dollar's rising cost in the open market. Soon after, raids were carried out by the Federal Investigation Agency, which tackles financial crime and smuggling. Since the crackdown began, the rupee has rebounded from a sharp fall against the dollar earlier in July. In the open market, it firmed from 288.6 per dollar on July 19 to about 286 in recent sessions. But traders and bankers say the trade continues, suggesting the crackdown's effects could be short-lived. The black market operates outside official channels and includes unlicensed dealers, personal networks, and digital peer-to-peer exchanges, with customers seeking to skip tax declarations, avoid burdensome paperwork and bypass limits on official currency purchases. In Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border long known for black market currency deals, many shops in the historic Chowk Yadgar district remain shuttered, though some traders were still operating discreetly in back-alley booths. "The trade didn't stop. It just moved," said Ahmad, a dealer whose family has been in the business for generations. "Now it's on WhatsApp. If you know someone, the dollars come to your house." "The big players have shifted to safer locations and kept going," said another trader, Gul. Both traders asked not to give their full names. Even retail buyers are bypassing the formal foreign exchange market. Hassan, a manager at a multinational firm in Karachi, said stricter documentation drove him to an informal forex chat. "Everyone there is a buyer or seller. No middleman, no commission. Sometimes it's physical cash, sometimes bank transfers, sometimes crypto," he said. On Monday, Pakistan's central bank called in bank treasury heads to address pressure on the rupee. Two bankers said they were told to stop buying dollars from exchange companies at above-official rates on the grounds it was skewing the market. Banks were asked to rely on their own inflows from exports and remittances, but both sources have slowed. Exporters are delaying bringing money home, betting the rupee will weaken. Remittances are also tapering off as banks reduce incentives once offered to attract overseas inflows. Authorities also pressed banks to keep the gap between the interbank rate and the open market rate narrow, a condition of Pakistan's $7 billion IMF deal meant to discourage speculation. "These meetings have been happening for years, but this one was more pointed," one banker said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The central bank is expected to cut rates on Wednesday, easing inflation but risking pressure on the rupee.
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
John Swinney, Donald Trump and the £4m whisky question
When he came to cut the ribbon at his new course, he asked the SNP leader to stand up in front of the dignitaries, golfers and journalists gathered in the first tee grand stand. 'The First Minister is here. John, would you stand up?" the President said. "John Swinney is a terrific guy who loves golf, loves the people of this country, and we really appreciated it. Thank you for everything, John.' Some praise from Mr Trump for someone who very publicly endorsed his rival in last year's election and subsequently called for his state visit to be cancelled. When the Scottish press pack asked about this previously unknown love of the game, the First Minister replied: 'Well, I'm aware of golf.' READ MORE It turns out that at the dinner on Monday — where he sat on one side of the President and the Prime Minister on the other — he told Mr Trump about his son Matthew's passion for the sport, and how he often acts as his caddy. He even showed the President a video of Matthew playing a shot. Mr Trump told him his son had a 'beautiful swing'. There was, a government source said, a lot of chat about golf on Monday. But there was also, crucially, talk about whisky and tariffs. Very recently, the Isle of Harris distillery — located just 35 miles from Tong, where Trump's mother, Mary Ann MacLeod, was born — announced some redundancies, in part because of the tariffs. There is a real fear that this is a situation that could be replicated all over the country. Scotch makes up a quarter of all UK food and drink exports, according to the Scotch Whisky Association — a market worth £971 million in 2024. The tariffs are already costing the industry £4m a week. John Swinney at Trump's course (Image: Colin Mearns/NQ) It's fair to say the President was not aware of the difficulties facing the sector until his impromptu press conference on the steps of Turnberry, where STV's political editor, Colin Mackay, asked him about it. There is, a government source said, now a window open. There is work here for the UK Government, the SWA, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States — and the Scottish Government too. The President has urged Mr Swinney to follow up. The First Minister said he did, promptly, with the US Ambassador to the UK, Warren A. Stephens. READ MORE That dinner also meant, the source said, there was a rapport when the FM had his proper talks with the President on Tuesday morning. It meant he could talk about Gaza and properly share the horror of the people of Scotland at the situation. There has been, quite understandably, some anger over the cost of hosting the President of the United States in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire. The policing operation is understandably massive. Some estimates suggest it could leave the taxpayer with a bill in the millions, possibly even more that £10m. Could a deal on whisky make it all worthwhile?
