Whilst in South Wales yesterday, I decided to honour a promise and visit Scruffs. This was a spontaneous thing as I passed the Bridgend turn on the M4, and I turned the car into Wales with a vague recollection of the map, and the name "Pontycmer" lodged in my brain. Fortunately signs to Pontycmer appeared quickly. As I neared the village I was looking for a valley as I recalled it being in a valley from photos on there website, and then Boom! This building with SCRUFFS written on one side, and a familiar looking van parked in front. If you are on the right road you certainly won't miss it.
From the outside it looks more like a small company office, and the building was probably made this way. The entrance area is packed with photos, posters and lots of press cuttings of activities and news associated with the company. Through a narrow corridor with lots more photos and posters advertising forthcoming local fly-ins and events and the view opens to a *very* large space just packed with kites.
I did not warn them that I was coming, and after a few "Oh its YOU" introductions I was offered a cup of coffee. Not unusual you might say, but I was then shown to the coffee bar... a real coffee bar. And then I noticed cafe tables and chairs dotted around. I half expected to find a local or two reading the paper over a Latte.
The shop was not busy, and I was then shown to the sofa area next to the fire.... yes that was the SOFA area next to the FIRE.... for a chat.
After 5 minutes I was totally gobsmacked by the place. I have not seen an undertaking like this in 13 years of kite flying. Over coffee and with the fire burning gently, I chatted for a couple of hours to Ian and Irene.
I was expecting a heavily power orientated shop, and what I found was not the case. There is an even distribution across all disciplines. Upon first sight, you see various single line kites and small stuff, but look again and there are full sized Masques, Nirvanas, Airbows, Revs and various other Sport Kites in abundance. There was a pre-production Flexifoil Fury in front of the counter, awaiting a flight test for Powerkite mag. One section of the wall has various manufactures of sport kite lines spread across it. The power area is sectioned off, with the sofas(ah) and the fire(ah), and is full of Blades, Bullets, buggys and boards.
As we chatted, I was very surprised at how passionate and knowledgable Ian and Irene are about Sport Kiting. I know that there is a pocket of keen interest in South Wales, but I was not quite prepared for this level of committment from a local shop. In fact, Ian is long-standing sport kite flyer and was very proud to talk about his latest acquisition, a custom vented Phantom Elite. A lot of our conversation was about the business of kiting and STACK and similar, and how SCRUFFS have achieved such an excellent shop when little appears to be known about them outside of Wales.
The simple answer is "tourism". The car park is large, and for good reason. In the summer they are part of the wales tourist trail, and can sometimes receive two or three coaches of tourists per day. Then suddenly the size, and the coffee bar, and the sofas and the fire all made sense to me. Any unsuspecting member of the public that strays into this place cannot help but be blown away by it, I certainly was.
Suffice to say, it was worth the detour. Ian and Irene were marvelous hosts. True, there were no other customers in the store whilst I was there. But I would have been happy to sit with a cup of coffee and browse through the 20 or so kite mags that were on the coffee table next to the fire.....
It really IS "The Kiting Experience".
