My first ever visit to Carmarthen was in November 2011, the weather was not great but liked to look of the area and town centre but very sad to see so many shops empty and to let or for sale, clearly a sign of the times.
At night the town is deserted, but comes to life in the day with market stalls and a great selection of small independent shops.
A great effort had been made with the festive decorations, and every street was festooned with twinkling lights, lovely Christmas trees dotted around the town making it look so magical.
Sadly that is where it ended, as I was followed around the shopping area by a security man who seemed to be on every corner looking at us, eventually after hours of being followed I was approached and asked what I was doing, apparently you are NOT PRERMITTED to take photographs in this town. I asked where the sign was saying this was the case; I was taken and shown a sign high up a lamppost (which even when shown the sign I could not see the no camera rule) but with a logo the size of a postage stamp it did say cameras not allowed.
What a way to treat visitors! I will never return to this town and in a climate where shops are closing weekly due to recession it seems a very sad way to treat visitors, I got in my car a left the town. I feel the residents and business owners need to address this problem if you wish to attract visitors to Wales. read more