Tenby based purveyors of fine bone china, Glyn Coch Designs, are still Simply The Best, even though their shop under that name in the town's Upper Frog Street is set to close its doors on Christmas Eve.

Glyn Coch Designs was established by former St. Clears farmer Rowland Evans in 1979 and relocated to Tenby nearly nine years ago.

In some way, the business has been a victim of its own success, with Rowland and his wife Lou reluctantly taking the decision to close the Tenby shop, which they opened four years ago, to enable them to concentrate on their many trade orders from Welsh, English, Irish and American outlets.

"We've thoroughly enjoyed our time at the shop, but we've had to stand back and take stock," admitted Rowland. "Tenby has certainly been a lively and jolly place to run a shop in, and it will be a shame to lose it as it acted as a showcase for us, resulting in some excellent commissions, but it did tend to tie us down a bit."

"After 23 years, it's an attempt to streamline the business a little and make life a little easier," added Lou. "Who knows, we may even get the chance to see more of each other!"

The high quality craftsmanship and designs of Glyn Coch Design's fine china means the business gets many repeat trade orders from all over the United Kingdom as well as special celebration commissions and corporate work.

The couple have just completed a repeat order for Tower Colliery, marking the 10th anniversary of the workforce buyout, and are working on their seventh order for the Sandringham estate since January

Glyn Coch Designs are also working on new commissions all the time, and at present are preparing new pieces for the Dylan Thomas Centre to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the legendary Welsh bard.

"Added to that is the fact that internet ordering and enquiries on our website has gone from strength to strength since we launched it two years ago," explained Rowland.

"There are so many stages and processes to work through for each order that sometimes we find that there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to cover all our bases.

"Throughout all our years in business we've never sacrificed quality to rush a job, and we're not prepared to start now, so I'm afraid something had to give.

"However, although we will be closing the shop in Tenby, people can rest assured that business still goes on and collectors of Glyn Coch china need not worry," smiled Rowland.

"They still have until Christmas to pop in and see us in Tenby and after that we will still be continuing to operate from our other outlet at Stepaside Heritage Park.

"Also, we will still be taking orders for that special occasion, corporate work, inscriptions and so forth via our web-site, http://www.china-wales.co.uk">www.china-wales.co.uk or by 'phone on (01834) 842863.