Barry

Barry is the county town of the beautiful and rural Vale of Glamorgan. It boasts a population of nearly 50,000 and has recently found renewed fame as the setting of the popular BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey. Barry grew as a town in the late 19th century as a distribution hub for the coal rich South Wales Valleys. By 1913, Barry was thought to be the largest coal exporting port in the world.

There is now little shipping in Barry but it remains a fantastic place to live with beautiful parks such as Porthkerry and the picturesque blue flag Whitmore beach as well as being the gateway to outdoor activities and rural life in the Vale of Glamorgan. It’s also only a 20min trip to Cardiff for great shopping or to watch the rugby!

Our Barry practice started life as an opticians in 1934 when Norman Alexander opened a practice which became a successful, busy one man practice by his retirement in 1971. The practice became Arbuthnots in 1975  and has since grown to be one of the largest independent opticians in Wales.
Providing patients with fantastic service using the latest technology for the benefit of our patients has always been at the forefront of our thoughts. As such we were one of the early practices to install a digital fundus camera in 2001 which has proved invaluable in saving the sight of our patients over the years. Many practices are only just realising the benefits of this technology and promoting it. Having 12 years worth of experience and 12 years worth of data for comparison for some of our patients places us well ahead of the game.
In 2010 we were the 1st practice in the Vale to install an optical coherence tomographer. An incredible diagnostic tool so impressive we’ve had to devote a whole page to explain all about it.

Our partners are keen to promote the practice of Optometry. We see Optometrists as having an awful lot to offer healthcare in the community avoiding unnecessary lengthy trips to hospital eye departments and are active in local optical committees pushing new pathways for the benefits of our patients.
In the late 1990s Ted Arbuthnot, along with the Local Optical Committee instigated the PEARS (primary eyecare acute referral scheme) which allows people with sudden eye problems to be referred directly to optometrists by their GPs or to present themselves at their optometrist and be examined in the community. This avoids an often unnecessary trip to a hospital with the cost of the appointment met by the Welsh Assembly Government. This has been proven to be a safe and cost effective method and now runs across wales and is the envy of many other parts of the UK.

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Take a tour around our Barry practice here

6 Broad St,
Barry,
Vale of Glamorgan
CF62 7XP

T: 01446 735551
E: info@arbuthnotopticians.co.uk