THE shop where Roald Dahl bought his sweets as a child has been turned into a Chinese takeaway, experts believe.
The Great Wall is thought to now stand on the spot in Llandaff’s High Street where the store remembered in the legendary writer’s autobiography, Boy, once stood.
Owner Han Lau, 48, was told by customers her restaurant was the setting for The Great Mouse Plot of 1923 – which resulted in seven-year-old Dahl being caned at Llandaff Cathedral School. The plot saw him putting a dead mouse in a jar of jawbreakers in the shop.
The mum-of-two said: “They say Roald Dahl used to come to this shop. The old people tell me that. It’s great!”
Once the Llandaff Society is sure it has pinpointed the right location it plans to erect a blue plaque commemorating the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory creator, born in Fairwater Road in 1916, the Chinese year of the dragon.
Mrs Lau said: “If it’s true and they would like to put a plaque on my shop that is fantastic.
“We need to find out the truth but the chairman of the Llandaff Society says he is 98% to 100% sure.
“I can’t imagine what Roald Dahl would make of the shop now. I’ve no idea what I would recommend to him off the menu.
“It’s good news for all the street.”
Llandaff Society chairman Geoff Barton-Greenwood is also checking out five other locations where Dahl is rumoured to have spent his pocket money on sweets.
These are 38 Bridge Street, 2 High Street, a site on Cardiff Road, the Mulberry Street restaurant at 48 High Street, and HSBC in Cardiff Road.
But the takeaway at 11 High Street is the favourite.
Mr Barton-Greenwood said: “We have fairly conclusive information which suggests this particular sweet shop is the one.”
He claimed Dahl’s widow Felicity, also born in Llandaff, believed this was the right spot.
“She suggested it would have been number 11,” he said.
As well as a plaque Dahl fans would like to see their hero recreated as a bronze statue.
