Rhondda Cynon Taf's only independent bookshop, opened by Cerith Mathias and Jeff Baxter in June 2021 as the year-round home of the Pontypridd Children's Book Festival they founded in 2018. New fiction and non-fiction, a dedicated Welsh-language shelf, a children's corner at the back of the shop, and a counter that runs author talks the way a newsroom runs an interview.
A smartly-curated stock across the four sections the shop is known for. New on the front tables, the Welsh-language shelf along the side wall, the children's corner at the back.
Cerith Mathias and Jeff Baxter founded the Pontypridd Children's Book Festival in 2018, three years before the shop. The first festival ran on Saturday 12 May 2018 across the museum and the park. By the fifth year, in 2022, the programme had grown across Pontypridd Museum, Ynysangharad War Memorial Park, Pontypridd Library, and Storyville itself. Eloise Williams, the Children's Laureate Wales, and Connor Allen, the Children's Laureate, ran masterclasses. Rugby legend James Hook signed at the children's corner.
The shop, opened in June 2021 by Pontypridd Town Mayor Carl Thomas, gave the festival a year-round home. The author programme runs through the year at the counter, the bigger evenings move to the museum or the park, and the Mab Trail (a permanent public-art trail of bilingual story-stones by illustrator Max Low) anchors the festival into the town itself.
“Either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.”
Carson McCullers · the line on the counter wall
Before the shop, Cerith Mathias spent ten years in BBC Wales' Political Unit and was series editor of The Wales Report with Huw Edwards for the programme's entire five-year run. Jeff Baxter coordinated the Pontypridd Children's Book Festival from its founding in 2018. The shop opened in June 2021 and put both of their working lives under one roof.
The credentials sit in how the shop is run, more than in any plaque on the wall. Every author talk is structured like a piece of broadcast journalism: short, recorded, answered. The school orders are coordinated the way the festival's logistics are. The Welsh-language shelf is curated rather than wholesale-stocked. None of this is something a chain bookshop can replicate.
Outside Caernarfon, Cardiff and Aberystwyth the Cymraeg shelf in most retailers is a token of a few children's books and a Welsh dictionary. Ours is a full shelf, refreshed each season, of Cymraeg literary fiction, Welsh non-fiction and history, bilingual picture books for the early years, and dual-language editions for adult learners reading across both at once. We are the only independent bookshop in Rhondda Cynon Taf and the county borough's only retail point where the full Cymraeg children's range is in stock for browse.
Phone 07749 993331 for any title not on the shelf. Most Cymraeg orders land in two working days.
Most enquiries are answered in a working day, either by reply email or a phone call back from the counter. For anything urgent, phone the shop on 07749 993331. The counter is open Monday and Thursday to 3pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to 5pm. Closed Sundays.
For a title not on the shelves, give us the title, author and edition if you know it, and we will come back with availability and a collection date. For school orders or reading-group sets, please phone first so the counter can talk it through.
info@storyvillebooks.co.uk · 07749 993331
Thank you. We have your enquiry and will reply by close of the next working day. For something urgent, phone the shop on 07749 993331.
The shop is at the rear of 8-10 Mill Street. The entrance is reached through the small lane off Mill Street between the cafes. A short walk from the 1856 Old Bridge over the Taff and from Ynysangharad War Memorial Park.
For anything not here, phone the shop on 07749 993331 or email info@storyvillebooks.co.uk.
Yes. Almost any title in print can be ordered for next-day or two-day collection. Phone the shop on 07749 993331 or email info@storyvillebooks.co.uk with the title, author and edition and we will come back with availability.
Yes. The Welsh-language shelf carries Cymraeg picture books, chapter books and bilingual story books year-round. We are the only independent bookshop in Rhondda Cynon Taf and the only retail point in the county borough where the full Cymraeg children’s range is in stock for browse.
Rear of 8-10 Mill Street, CF37 2SN. The shopfront is reached down the small lane off Mill Street between the cafes. A short walk from the 1856 Old Bridge and from Ynysangharad War Memorial Park. The 132 from Cardiff stops on Bridge Street, two minutes walk away.
The festival runs each May across Pontypridd Museum, Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd Library and the shop. Programme announcements come out in early April. Phone or email and we will add you to the mailing list for the next programme drop.
Yes. We put together set-text orders for primary and secondary schools across Rhondda Cynon Taf and reading-group bundles for libraries and community groups. Phone or email the counter with the year-group or list and we will put together a quote.