A
love of gardening kept the Roberts family afloat when in 1875 financial
problems forced the Llanelly Pottery to close for two years. Many potters
left Llanelli but Thomas
Roberts (1833-1904) made a living selling produce from his garden.
His son John Wells
Roberts (1862-1932) had no interest in following his sisters into
the Pottery when it re-opened and he persuaded his father to let him
run the garden as a business. When the new market opened in Llanelli
in 1884 he rented a shop at the Cowell Street entrance which was run
by the family for more than 75 years, later by his sons Frank
(1904-1960) and Jack
(1901-1955).
JW
Roberts and Sons sold flowers, fruit and vegetables, some sent down
by train from Covent Garden market, but much of it grown at Swansea
Road Nurseries – a piece of land rented from the Stepney Estate – where
they grew the best tomatoes in town. Fruit from each plant would
be tasted and piece of rag tied round the best ones so that they could
be saved for seed. At busy times all the female members of the family
were pressed into service making wreaths, bouquets and buttonholes.
The
freehold of the Nurseries was not bought until the 1950s by which time
the Roberts family had two houses and many greenhouses on the land.
Tom Roberts had bought the two neighbouring houses at the end of Bryntirion
Terrace for his daughters Elizabeth
(1868-1940) and Emma
(1874-1944). His daughter Sarah
Jane (1859-1935) worked in the business after the Llanelly Pottery
closed, as did his granddaughter Annie
Gwendoline Hawkins (1905-1988) and his son in law Jack
Thomas (1848-1935).
The
shop and the nurseries closed after the death of Frank Roberts in 1960.
The land was sold to the council and the houses were demolished in
the 1980s for the construction of the new A484 road from Llanelli to
Swansea.
A
love of gardening kept the Roberts family afloat when in 1875 financial
problems forced the Llanelly Pottery to close for two years. Many potters
left Llanelli but 
JW
Roberts and Sons sold flowers, fruit and vegetables, some sent down
by train from Covent Garden market, but much of it grown at Swansea
Road Nurseries – a piece of land rented from the Stepney Estate – where
they grew the best tomatoes in town. Fruit from each plant would
be tasted and piece of rag tied round the best ones so that they could
be saved for seed. At busy times all the female members of the family
were pressed into service making wreaths, bouquets and buttonholes.
The
freehold of the Nurseries was not bought until the 1950s by which time
the Roberts family had two houses and many greenhouses on the land.
Tom Roberts had bought the two neighbouring houses at the end of Bryntirion
Terrace for his daughters 
The
shop and the nurseries closed after the death of Frank Roberts in 1960.
The land was sold to the council and the houses were demolished in
the 1980s for the construction of the new A484 road from Llanelli to
Swansea.