Coal was king when Albert Frederick Thomas leased a small shop in Commercial Road, Newport, to set up his dream - an independent family business specialising in electrical goods and furniture.

The year was 1932 and this part of Pill bustled with scores of shops and stores. It wasn't long before Albert was expanding and he moved two doors up the road to a former butcher's shop where the present 10,000 sq ft AF Thomas store now stands.

Albert saw to it that customers not only got what they wanted but that they had an after sales service second to none. His grandson Andrew, who now with his sister Alison, runs the business, joined his father Ray in 1992 and carries on that theme of service. "We have a logo that says 'Thomas' where service counts'. And it is that service which gives us the reputation we have got. We now pride ourselves on the fact that keen prices are a real motive for purchasing goods and since joining the Euronics Group it has given us that ability to be competitive with Currys and Comet and the like, but one thing we have always beaten them hands down is our after sales service."

In 1970 Ray, his father expanded the Thomas empire with the purchase of the premises in Maindee and in 1992 a third store at Abergavenny was opened.

Although the Commercial Road store is busy, Andrew is very critical of the lack of development in this area of Pill. "They keep threatening to come down the road but it's only with housing unfortunately.

There is no business investment here but in our opinion there desperately needs to be and the sooner the better," he said.