Les Byard - St Tydfils Shopping Centre

Les is a Birmingham boy, who after leaving school with a pocketful of Olevels, began his career as a Trainee Production Engineer. Whilst studying for his qualifications at college, he worked in a department store on Saturdays to earn extra money. He soon discovered that Saturday was the most exciting day of the week, and after qualifying as an Engineer, joined the store on a full time basis. During the following years Les worked his way through the ranks from Saturday salesman to Gerenal Manager and finally managed a flagship department store in Oxford Street, London.

During the eighties, department stores began to decline, and Les saw an opportunity to use his skills managing Shopping Centres, which in his view was simply a very large department store. There was no formal role for a shopping centre manager at the time, so Les was one of the pioneers in his industry, helping to shape the role and set operational standards for others to follow.

Les has managed a variety of schemes across South East England (Guildford, Staines, Farnborough, Ringwood) and moved to Wales in 2003 for a lifestyle move (stunning scenery, outdoor pursuits, better value housing, less traffic and the opportunity to be part of Merthyr's Regeneration).

Les is Chairman of the Merthyr Tydfil Business Partnership, Chairman of the Trustees for Merthyr Community Trust, and a Group Scout Leader in his village. He lives in Rhymney Valley with his Wife (a native of Wales) and their young daughter, and enjoys camping, cycling, walking is a movie buff and designs gardens as a hobby.

St Tydfil Shopping Centre comprises of 189,000 sq ft (17,555 sq m) of retail accommodation over two levels, anchored by a 45,800 sq ft (4,261 sq m) Wilkinson's store. The scheme has 45 retail units, an indoor market and 25 residential flats.

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