If you happen to be a local you know it. If you’ve driven past by accident you’ll remember it, and it’s been here for 80 years, so a lot of people have. People have been spending pocket money here for decades and while the name has changed a fair few times two things have not – the colour and the sweets. The Pink Shop in Treforest has always been brilliant – but now it’s doing something extraordinarily fabulous. Sian Perez and her sister-in-law Jazz Dicker run their own care and supported living service for adults with autism, learning disabilities and mental illness in the village called Crwban Care and Support. The family run company started over a Sunday dinner during the pandemic and has since developed in to a major part of the community. The pair have now expanded their horizons and taken over the oldest sweet shop in South Wales. The Pink Shop in Pontypridd , now known as Pinc as a nod to the Welsh language, has been open since the 1940s but has recently had a modern makeover. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What’s On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here . Sian who had a care background and Jazz who had a nursing background joined forces to help support adults with additional needs to gain more independence. When the opportunity came up to start their own businesses they said they just had to take it. Jazz said: “We help individuals become independent in the community and live their best lives. Pink was never part of our plan, but when we were given the opportunity, we couldn’t turn it down because not only is the Pink Shop or now Pinc, iconic in Trefforest, it also is going to be a place that we want our service users and our residents to be able to volunteer and become integrated members of society and be part of something pretty special.” Sian explained: “The Pink Shop is the oldest independent sweet shop in South Wales, so I think it started around the 1940s, and it’s just changed over time so it’s been a sweet shop since then and obviously we wanted to keep the sweets, but just add a bit more extra.” Jazz said: “When we were even painting it outside, the local members of the community were walking past and checking that we weren’t going to paint it another colour. The whole community knows about the pink shop and it’s actually been really lovely to meet members of the community and hear about their stories and their memories coming here as children with their parents then bringing their own kids. “So we felt it was really important to keep that side of things, especially because we very much want to be a community café and a hub.” Katrina, Sian’s sister and Jazz’s wife has taken over managing the cafe/sweet shop, and is primarily the reason it looks the way it does now. They told us that it was a massive family effort to get shop looking and running the way it is now. However, they are also looking forward to including some of their service users in the team, through their volunteer programme. Jazz said: “Having been running Crwban for nearly three years now many of our residents are really desperate to have those sorts of opportunities and whilst we’ve met a lot of really lovely welcoming businesses in the area who provide those opportunities there’s not many, and our our guys are now incredibly excited so Sian’s carrying interviews with them on the first of July.” Sian added: “We’ve done interview workshops, CV workshops, application form workshops, just to expand on their skill set as well.” Jazz continued: “It’s also been really lovely because whilst we set it up with Crwban residents in mind, we’ve also had other members of the community pop in to ask about opportunities for their loved ones with additional needs. So we’ve realised it’s probably going to be a much bigger project than we first envisaged and we’re handing out applications to more of the public now.” Two of Crwban’s service users who have started volunteering are 22-year-old Dylan and 26-year-old Declan. Dylan said that Pinc is going to be “fantastic “and that he’s exciting to work on the till and bake cakes. He said he’s “not going to wash up” as he doesn’t like it but that he thinks he is going to “have fun and learn lots of things”. Meanwhile, Declan’s goal is to “learn to use the coffee machine” and he “loves meeting people” so can’t wait to start his new role. The duo have hired cafe-specific staff, but also a few support workers who are going to be doing their barista training so they can work across both Crwban and Pinc. Jazz explained: “so then it’s a space that you’re coming to, you can go to the cafe, but you’ve also got the cafe staff are trained to engage with individuals with additional needs and give them those experiences. “It’s like those social opportunities are really, really important, and being able to then run social groups in an environment like that, and especially because not all of our service users or residence will be able to volunteer at the cafe, we have some more complex individuals, but even just being able come and be there will be good for them.” The team are also hoping to do social events and groups for people with additional needs, as well as workshops, cooking lessons, evening classes,karaoke, coffee mornings, open mic nights. The co-founders shared that they have a big vision for Pinc and that they “hope it’s going to be very special.” They hope to make an inclusive and safe space for those in the community to have the sort of experiences, most people take for granted. Jazz continued: “That’s probably the the motive for a lot of what we want to do in there so we’re starting a chatty hour a couple of mornings a week for an hour where we’re gonna sit in the cafe and and if anybody wants to come down just for a chat to sort of tackle loneliness. “Local sort of like support groups have approached us to ask if they can sort of base themselves at Pinc as well. So, that’s like the main goal is we basically want to be like a hub where there’s always something going on for everyone, whether it be our residents or other sort of vulnerable groups within the community.”