THE mystery as to the date of when a steel girder was installed in a Cardigan town centre shop front may have been solved.

Renovation work at the old “Y Popty” bakery shop, next to the Bell Hotel, at Pendre, revealed a steel beam with the company name ‘Connies of Cardiff’ written on it.

Matthew Morgan, who runs Brwsh Decorating Centre at the Pentood Industrial Estate, was intrigued by the find and decided to carry out his own bit of detective work to see if he could discover when it was put in place.

And while he was able to track down the original Cardiff-based company ‘Connies’ that manufactured the girder and talk to them, finding out a date as to when it was installed proved a dead end.

Connies was founded back in 1926 and the structural engineering side of the business was ended in 1982.

But since the story appeared in the Tivyside Advertiser, Matt has been contacted with fresh information.

"I received a phone call from Ioan Morris of Jamson, who informs me that the work was completed by their firm in 1969 and is referred to in the minutes of the directors' meeting of December 4 of that year," said Matt.

"The project was being undertaken for Hodges, who were a high street clothing store.

"Ioan recalls the conversation with his father and how nervous they were having the entire front of the building propped up and the relief of getting the steel installed by Connies, using a very rare lift not seen down these parts of West Wales back then."

And research by local historian Glen Johnson, who has looked back in the archives, seems to tie in around that time.

“Hepworth’s gentlemen’s outfitters started trading there in 1928 so that’s the earliest possible date for it but I personally don’t think it’s that early but it is a possibility,” said Glen, known to many in the town as ‘The History Man’.

“Then, in 1956 they closed and in 1958 it became a branch of gents outfitters Hodges and there was another major refurbishment of the building in 1970.”