Ben Evans store, Swansea, Wales

circa 1930

The pride of late Victorian and early 20th Century Swansea, Ben Evans was the first department store in Wales. It's quality merchandise and high class standards earnt the store the title of "Harrods of Wales". The building, inspired by some French architectural themes, was built on the site of Swansea's original trading market in 1895. During the Second World War, enemy bombing raids reduced the building to rubble, which was cleared in the late 1940's to create Castle Gardens, latterly redefined as Castle Square.