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People are loving the Welsh supermarket with the longest sign

06 Jan 2023 2 minute read
The Co-Op in Llanfairpg is quickly becoming a tourists attraction (Credit: Co-Op)

You’d have to be living under a rock your whole life or been cryogenically frozen – or something – not to know that Wales possesses the longest place name in the UK and the second-longest in the entire world.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is as famous as Gareth Bale, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey, but one would imagine with slightly less talent for football and singing.

Thousands of tourists flock to the village on Anglesey every year to have a picture taken with the famous sign located at the train station.

However, the local Co-Op could be quickly becoming the latest tourist attraction, thanks to its status as the supermarket with the longest sign name in the UK.

A recent thread on Twitter turned into one giant love-in, with site user Owen Williams declaring his love for the supermarket facade.

‘I love this with all my heart,’ he wrote in a tweet that has so far amassed 171,000 views.

There were plenty of comments agreeing with the original poster – including responses from the official Co-Op Twitter account who were keen to recognise the unique jewel amongst their stores.

Their representative, named Jac, also ingratiated himself to the locals by replying in Welsh to the Welsh-speaking users commenting on the thread.

And fair play to the user who posted: ‘How big are the till receipts at this branch?’

For those who have not yet mastered pronunciation of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, then we discovered a brilliant song on YouTube that will quickly help you get your tongue around the unique place name.

The song was written by musician Don Woods back in 1982, and was posted on the video site 12 years ago – and judging by the views the video has had, it has helped of thousand of people master pronunciation of this Welsh jewel.

And if that wasn’t enough, here’s another quirky video featuring film star Naomi Watts, who spent part of her childhood living with her grandparents in Llanfair PG.

Here she’s gamely attempting to help US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel pronounce the name of her former home village.


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Charles Coombes
Charles Coombes
1 year ago

Add Dylan Thomas and Shane Williams to the list of celebs!

Owen williams
Owen williams
1 year ago

I love the sign

Peter Cuthbert
Peter Cuthbert
1 year ago

Excellent! Just a pity we don’t have a Co-op in Aberystwyth any more though we would hardly be in the running for a long name. Now if we had a Co-op in Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn (6m SE of Aber) we could perhaps make the runners up list.

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