Barry businesswoman hails ‘great day’ as Gavin and Stacey stars return

An ice cream shop owner in Barry said the return of Gavin and Stacey filming has brought a “massive buzz” to the area after James Corden visited for a brownie and a chat.

The BBC announced on Monday that filming had got under way for the sitcom’s last episode, which will air on Christmas Day this year.

On Tuesday, Barry business owner Laura Davenport told the PA news agency that filming had been taking place in front of her shop, Scoop, while they were also visited by the show’s co-creator, Corden.

James Corden, who plays Smithy in the series, meets locals (Laura Davenport)

“We’ve been making ourselves known to anyone that will talk to us to be honest!” the 38-year-old from Barry said.

“Because of where the shop is, we’ve kind of been on set almost.

“We waved madly at James and got him over to the shop. He’s really lovely, asking about the shop, saying that it was really lovely, really different.

“He was great, he had some photos with us – one of the girls that works for us is our baker so he had one of her brownies as well.

“He’s been lovely to everybody to be honest, all the fans, he’s had photos with them – so it’s been a great day.”

Ms Davenport said there was “a massive buzz” as a result of the show’s return, adding it was “great for business after a slow summer with the bad weather”.

She said she was hopeful the shop would appear in the background during the Christmas special.

“They’re going to be doing some shots later, so we’ll be in the back of some the shots as well,” she said.

“So yeah, really excited to potentially be on TV on Christmas Day!”