I'm sure that the name of this business has more to do with clothing fastenings than it does the…read morelegal intoxicant that was broadly used, particularly in gay nightclubs, across the UK back in the 80's! Ah, the heady smell of Amyl Nitrate! Nasty!
There's something I'm less sure about... Does Beverley, the owner, know about this other meaning? I guess not, but I can imagine that she'd find it amusing, like myself.
Beverley Soar is as laid back as any of the business owners on Pontcanna Street., and she's got a sense of humour. When I called in recently she was inspecting the damage done to the huge plate glass window that fronts the shop. The phantom tagger had paid her, (and everyone else down the street), a visit, leaving their tag, or signature mark, etched in the glass. The damage to all was going to cost the insurers a small fortune.
Beverley was taking it in her stride, and seemed surprisingly up-beat, considering the disruption and mess that the repair would cause. She owns a particularly beautiful shop with some pretty expensive stock.... clothes by Grea, Annette Gortz, Hebbeding, Indies, Krines, Ischiko, Sonja Marohn and Oska... and I haven't met a tradesman yet that doesn't move everything so that you can't find it, and leave dusty footprints in the carpet! I guess she just reconciles herself with the knowledge that if it needs to be done, it needs to be done, and that's that!
I like Beverley as much as I like her shop. The street wouldn't be the same without them both. With customers ranging from their mid thirties, up into their nineties, (her oldest customer is a very well dressed 96 year old, who has lost none of her sophistication and sartorial taste with the passage of time), Poppers is responsible for some of the best dressed women in Cardiff!
