The beautiful little UK town packed with independent shops - no chains or abandoned stores

When my mum suggested meeting for lunch in a place called Hwb (it means "hub" in Welsh) as I made my way to west Wales for a short break, I'll admit I was sceptical.

I had never heard of it so, as you do, jumped to the conclusion that it wasn't worth hearing about, especially not in a town with a reputation for lots of excellent places to eat. Well, it turns out that I owe my mum one for coming up with one of the highlights of my summer. Hwb is one in a (very) long list of independent gems in the beautiful town of Narberth in Pembrokeshire.

Narberth is packed with independent businesses which range from some of Wales' best restaurants to pubs, local butchers, antique shops, clothes stores, bridal boutiques and hairdressers.

There's also the "Quirky Garage" selling all manner of trinkets but seemingly specialising in outsize animal models, an arts centre, the community-managed library housed in a little old school, the social club selling pints for £3.10, an arts centre and "The Shop at No47" which describes itself as "quite possibly Pembrokeshire's most perfectly pleasant place to peruse". I wouldn't disagree.

Down the road, a lamppost advertises a "hymns and Pimms" night coming up at the local church.

Narberth's former town hall - a unique building with a clock tower topped by a little steeple - stands alone on a traffic island at one end of the high street with stone steps leading up to the entrance. Today it is a shop called The Golden Sheaf selling clothes, books, home furnishings and jewellery - all of it gorgeous - but the building dates back to the 1830s and was built on the site of an old tap where the town's residents used to gather to get their water. Its original clock, until very recently, was wound each week by a member of the town council to the same, precise instructions of well over 100 years ago.

But it's not all dainty and quirky little shops. Just outside the town centre is the luxurious Grove, a stunning and exclusive hotel and restaurant with food, rooms and surroundings to match anything the Cotswolds has to offer. It's not cheap, with rooms starting at around £250 a night, suites at well over £500 and a seven-course tasting menu in its flagship restaurant costing £145 per person.

Even among the prettiest and most interesting towns around Britain, Narberth stands out. People who live there say it's "an effervescent little place with a robust sense of community" and that the people who live here "live for the lifestyle".

This is immediately obvious as soon as you get to the high street at the heart of the small town, which is bustling with people browsing storefronts and nipping in and out of shops even on a Tuesday lunchtime. The level of activity in the town centre belies the town's tiny 3,000 population.

To call it a hidden gem might be pushing it within Wales, where it is often named the best place to live, but it's far less well-known across the UK (where it also regularly ranks among the best places to live). I can't say exactly how many independent stores and businesses it has but 50 or so seems like a reasonable guess from walking around.

But the high street is not all Narberth has going for it. As soon as you leave the town's limits you find yourself in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, one of the most beautiful places in the UK and home to stunning beaches, the gorgeously bleak Preseli hills and other glorious towns like Tenby and Saundersfoot, both a short drive from Narberth (and both a lot better-known, perhaps thanks to their beaches).

"When I was growing up here in the 90s there were a few basic shops on the high street and around twenty grizzled old pubs," says Beth Alexander, who grew up in the town.

Writing on the Visit Wales website, she adds: "But the town had an arts scene bursting forth that brought all sorts of live music and performance to this small Welsh town. They say that the arts are a great regenerator, and you can see this played out in Narberth. Today it is an effervescent little place with a robust sense of community, a thriving high street packed with independent shops and cafes, and a full calendar of events."

Chris Lees-Price, who established the aforementioned Hwb, told WalesOnline: "The community here likes to protect local businesses by using them, and there's a real pride in the town because you see how hard people have had to work to make things happen and to make Narberth this way - it's not by accident."

It's a theme repeated over and over again by the people who live and run businesses here. Sadly, there aren't many towns like Narberth left and many others across the UK have succumbed to economic pressures, the decline in high street shopping, the ubiquity of chains (the only chain I could spot in Narberth was a Spar) and the natural divides that can form between generations and social classes. The national vacancy rate for high street shops around the UK is around 13.8%.

The closure of the nearby Oakwood theme park this year after decades of thrilling schoolchildren with its rides might have threatened to cast a shadow over the town, but it doesn't seem to have had much of an impact.

It would be different if the nearby (and huge) Bluestone Wales holiday park were to close (think Center Parcs but on a smaller scale) but thankfully there's no sign of that. Many visitors to Bluestone visit Narberth for a day of shopping and eating.

I'll start by going back to Hwb, which was a wonderful surprise and so worthwhile a visit that within days of my first visit I took two hour-long detours to eat there on subsequent family days out.

The independent food and drinks hall is housed in a old Victorian school at the opposite end of the high street to the beautiful town hall. There are four food vendors - selling burgers, Thai food, tacos and Indian street food respectively - and the three of four I've tried so far are fantastic.

I tried an onion bhaji naan wrap that was bigger than my head but still managed to feel light and vibrant instead of heavy and greasy, and a halloumi and pineapple taco that was packed full of flavour. The fries from Top Beef burgers are among the best I've had and my kids raved about them.

There's also a bar featuring 18 draft beer and cider taps, in scenes more akin to Shoreditch than rural west Wales.

Equally good is Plum Vanilla Cafe, also a combination of cafe and deli serving vegetarian food packed with flavour like falafel flatbreads, Korean rice bowls with battered cauliflower as well as loads of cakes. There's also Top Joe's serving "absolutely incredible" pizzas, calzones and antipasti, as well as cocktails, and Stopio, a bike cafe.

At the upper end of the scale is Annwn, which had only been open 12 months when it was named among the Good Food Guide's 20 best restaurants in the UK in 2022. It's also been praised by the Michelin guide. A 10-course tasting menu here costs £150.

And there's Fernery at The Grove hotel, where a seven-course tasting menu costs £145. As you can see, it's a hugely impressive range of places to eat for a small town of a few thousand people. You'll find far fewer options at far bigger towns.

It's not just within Narberth that you'll find masses to do. It is surrounded by the sublime Pembrokeshire countryside and coast. There are world class beaches nearby at Pendine, Tenby and Saundersfoot. The fantastic family attraction Folly Farm is somewhere a whole family can easily spend a day, with its mix of several play areas and wildlife including lions, giraffes and rhinos. The wild and impressive castles of Carew and Manorbier are also a short drive away.