11 November 2026
Chepstow is a town with a huge amount of heart. I often describe it as village life in a town. We have a real sense of connection here, where the boundaries between business, friendship, family and healthcare are often blurred in the loveliest possible way.
I live and work here, my children go to school here, and our patients are often our neighbours, friends, fellow business owners or parents at the school gates. My waxer and personal trainer are both patients. When the daughter of the local toy shop had a baby boy, of course we bought them a present. We support the local orchestra, football team and various PTAs. We don’t feel obliged to do those things; they’re simply part of being invested in the place where you live and work. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
That closeness also finds its way into our clinical care. I’ve had patients tell me about flashes and floaters while we’re both in the bread aisle at Tesco. If I’m worried about someone experiencing an eye problem over a weekend when we’re closed, I’ll give them my mobile number. That’s not something I do because I have to; it’s because I care about that person and want them to be safe. I’ve never had anyone take advantage of that trust, either.
People aren’t just appointments in a diary. We know them, we care about them and we often know their families, too. That connection helps people feel comfortable telling us what’s really going on, which can make a genuine difference to the care we provide.
And it works both ways. Our team gets to experience a sense of purpose and connection that I believe makes us better at what we do and makes our working lives more fulfilling.
Chepstow has its challenges, but it also has an incredible community spirit. Whether it’s Elvis Day, Nashville Day, the duck race on the river or a local business doing something a little out of the ordinary, there’s a real willingness to get involved and support one another. I’m passionate about protecting that spirit, because a thriving community is about so much more than the number of shops on a High Street. It’s about the people and relationships that make a place feel like home.
A thriving community is about so much more than the number of shops on a High Street. It’s about the people and relationships that make a place feel like home
Costs and competition
I think the biggest challenge for businesses is the combination of rising costs, competition from larger shopping destinations and the difficulty of creating a High Street that people have a compelling reason to visit.
Running an independent business has become increasingly expensive. When you’re a small business, you don’t necessarily have the buying power, resources or financial resilience of a larger organisation. Sometimes businesses close not because they aren’t loved or aren’t good at what they do, but because the numbers simply stop adding up.
Chepstow also has to compete with the convenience of places like Cribbs Causeway, which is less than 20 minutes away. You can visit multiple retailers in one place, with plenty of free parking. In Chepstow, you can find yourself paying to park before you’ve even spent anything in a local shop. I understand that parking generates revenue for the council, but I genuinely believe that free town centre parking, even for a limited period, would encourage more people to stop, see what is on offer and spend locally.
Sometimes businesses close not because they aren’t loved or aren’t good at what they do, but because the numbers simply stop adding up
When shops, bars and restaurants close, it can create a perception that a town is quiet or has less to offer. That perception then becomes another challenge: people visit less because they think there’s less to do, and businesses struggle because fewer people visit.
But I don’t think the answer is simply to tell people to shop locally. We have to give them reasons to choose us. We need to create town centres that are vibrant, accessible and full of businesses offering something genuinely worth seeking out.
I’m optimistic, though, because I see businesses in Chepstow doing really well. The ones that thrive often have something distinctive about them: exceptional service, a fantastic product range, specialist expertise or an experience that people can’t easily find elsewhere. I think we need to celebrate and encourage that, while making it more viable for independent businesses to establish themselves and stay.
Lifting the weight
The lessons optometrists learn outside of university corridors enabling them to become resilient, effective professionals
Specialist and personal
As an optometry practice, I think the opportunity is to be both an exceptional clinical destination and a business that genuinely belongs to its community. For me, those two things aren’t in competition; they strengthen one another.
You need to offer something that is genuinely brilliant, not just good for the town, but good enough to compete with the best anywhere. Our Dry Eye Wales service is a great example. We regularly welcome patients who travel more than two hours to see us, and we’ve had people come from overseas. They’re not travelling that far because we’re their local optician; they’re coming because of the specialist care we provide. That gives us an opportunity to reach people well beyond Chepstow while remaining firmly rooted here.
At the same time, I think we have a responsibility to make eye health relevant, accessible and engaging for our own community. During our myopia awareness day we invite children and their families in during half-term for a fun-filled day where they can learn about myopia in an environment that feels exciting rather than intimidating. It gives families the opportunity to learn something important, ask questions and get to know us in a completely different way.
I also think High Street practices have an opportunity to bring something back to healthcare that can sometimes get lost when everything becomes increasingly transactional: the human connection. We want patients to feel that we know them, that we have time for them and that we’re genuinely invested in their wellbeing. That doesn’t mean compromising on the commercial aspect either. Quite the opposite. It means building a sustainable business on trust, expertise and relationships that last.
I think the same applies to our team. If we create an environment where people feel connected to their patients, valued by their colleagues and proud of the role they play in the community, that contributes to job satisfaction and a stronger team. Better relationships can lead to better conversations, better engagement with care and, ultimately, better patient experiences.
We also want to be part of what makes Chepstow a great place to live and visit. That means supporting local initiatives, getting involved in town events and collaborating with other local businesses. We don’t exist in isolation from the High Street around us. When the town does well, we benefit; when our businesses do well, the town benefits.
Ultimately, I’d love The Optical People to demonstrate that you can be clinically ambitious, commercially successful and deeply community-minded all at once. You don’t have to choose between being a specialist destination and being the friendly optician who knows your name. I think the best practices can be both.
The stories that reflect our community
It’s difficult to choose just one, because so many little moments capture what Chepstow means to us. But our current We See You campaign has brought that community spirit into focus in a particularly powerful way.
We’re raising money for Velindre Cancer Centre in support of our co-director and one of my very best friends, Lynne, who is living with metastatic melanoma. We’ve had an extraordinary response from local businesses and individuals, and we now have more than 100 prizes for our charity raffle. It’s certainly going to take us a while to draw all those prizes.
What’s been most moving is that people have supported the campaign in so many different ways. Businesses have donated prizes, individuals have bought tickets, and people have stopped to read the messages in our shop window.
When you invest in those relationships, they can become something much more meaningful than a simple transaction
One of my favourite examples involves a patient who once strongly challenged Lynne about our prices. She explained that he could buy a white T-shirt from John Lewis or Primark and that she didn’t mind which he chose; the point was that there are different products, different levels of quality and different things that go into determining a price.
That patient and his wife have since become loyal patients. Over time, they’ve come to understand and appreciate what we offer. He’s brought Lynne chocolates, written a message on our campaign window, donated generously to We See You and popped in recently to tell us how much the campaign has affected him. He even said he wished he didn’t like Lynne so much! It made me laugh, but it also said something lovely about the relationship they’ve built.
For me, that story captures the power of a truly local business. Relationships aren’t always instant, and trust isn’t always built in a single appointment. Sometimes it takes time for people to understand the value of what you do. But when you invest in those relationships, they can become something much more meaningful than a simple transaction.
I think that’s what makes Chepstow special. People look out for one another. We celebrate together, we support one another’s businesses, we turn up for local causes and, when someone is going through something difficult, we find ways to help.
A local business can be much more than the service it provides. It can be a connector, a meeting point and a catalyst for something bigger. Chepstow is a community worth investing in, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of it.
About the author
Jaclyn Pugh 
Director of The Optical People
Jaclyn Pugh is an independent prescribing optometrist and co-director of The Optical People and Dry Eye Wales in Chepstow. Pugh took ownership of the practice in 2018 and was joined by Lynne Fraser in 2021.
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