Penarth
Penarth is a beautiful Victorian seaside town in the Vale of Glamorgan bordering the Welsh capital Cardiff. Boasting a population of around 20,000, it is known as the ‘Garden by the Sea’. The town retains extensive Victorian and Edwardian architecture and the seafront benefits from the iconic Penarth Pier opened in 1895. Penarth is often seen on the small screen as the location for Doctor Who and associated spin offs as well as Gavin & Stacey amongst many others.
In May 2012, we at Arbuthnot Opticians took over Evans, Hailes and Dean’s Penarth practice. We felt Penarth was an ideal location to benefit from our combination of clinical excellence and excellent quality, high fashion products. Just a month later and almost a year to the day since our Barry refurbishment we carried a major refurbishment including structural changes and installed new clinical equipment to bring the practice up to the level of our Barry location. We have had great feedback about the changes from previous Evans, Hailes and Dean patients and now offer some of the latest and most fashionable brands on the doorstep of Penarth residents. It is now an attractive boutique practice to fit with the boutique fashion shops and coffee shops that Penarth is famous for.
We have retained the services of Geoff Dean, one the of the partners of the original practice and he shares the clinics with James Davies, one of the three partners controlling the Arbuthnots group.
We look forward to welcoming new and old Penarth patients to our practice and hope you can come in for to join us for a coffee and peruse our excellent range of frames.
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.
Mandy Barnes
BSc (Hons) MCOptom
Mandy studied as an optometrist at Cardiff University, graduating in 1987. She then moved here to Arbuthnots to complete her pre registration year with Ted as her supervisor. She worked at a variety of practices in South Wales before moving to Oxford where she became area manager for a multiple opticians as well as a pre registration supervisor. Having enjoyed her time at Arbuthnots she returned to work here in 2002 and is now one of the three partner owners of the practice.
Mandy retired from testing in 2020 but still remains actively involved in the running of the practice.
James Davies
BSc (Hons) MCOptom PGCert Med Ret
Brought up in Penarth, James spent years playing rugby for local sides Penarth and Old Penarthians as well as football for Cogan. He graduated from Cardiff University in 1999 and embarked on his optometric career working at large multiple opticians becoming senior optometrist at one of the largest South Wales practices.
In 2004, deciding he would prefer the personal approach that an independent optician can offer he joined Arbuthnots and is now a partner in the practice. He enjoys all aspects of optometry and is particularly interested in the early detection of eye disease with latest techniques such as optical coherence tomography.
Away from Arbuthnots James is a member of the Local Optical Committee, and a council member of Optometry Wales which shapes the future of optometry in Wales. He has been a pre-registration supervisor as well as a supervisor at the university student clinics. He has also worked within local hospital eye department glaucoma clinics. He recently returned to academic study at Cardiff University completing the Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Retina. This further qualification provides extra, more specialised knowledge in diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the macular such as diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and retinal vascular disorders.
Away from eyes James loves watching rugby, cooking, red wine and a Asian food.
Sharron Hopkins
FBDO CL
Sharron moved to Barry from Shropshire to join the practice as a trainee dispensing optician in the early 1980s. Now a partner in the practice she has a major influence on the day to day running and its development and expansion over the years.
Sharron is the main frame buyer and has built up a great relationship with the reps of all high quality frame manufacturers so they seek us out to stock their latest frame ranges. She also makes regular trips to Milan to source new cutting edge ranges.
Sharron’s relaxed, friendly style means she has a loyal list of clients who value her expert fashion advice! As a dispensing optician with a specialist qualification in contact lenses, and a contact lens wearer herself, she enjoys trying to encourage children into contact lenses.
Sharron has played many sports over the years, mainly squash and golf and always enjoys keeping fit.
Helen Davies
BSc (Hons) MCOptom
Originally from Cardiff, Helen studied optometry at Cardiff University and graduated in 2019 with a First Class Honours. After completing her degree, Helen worked in the University Eye Clinic for her pre-registration year. Whilst working in the professional clinic, she gained a wide range of experience including low vision and special assessment. During her time at the University Eye Clinic, Helen had the opportunity to support and teach Optometry students.
Preferring to work in an independent practice, which offers the personal approach as well as maintaining very high clinical standards, Helen joined Arbuthnot Opticians in December 2020. Helen is now keen to undertake postgraduate training to gain specialised knowledge and further qualifications.
Helen enjoys swimming, yoga, and dance as well as going for coastal walks.
Our dispensing team
Katherine is a qualified dispensing optician with extensive experience in both small independent opticians and large multiple chain practices. She’s great at finding your individual visual requirements and suggesting the most suitable lens and frame options. In January 2020 Katherine achieved her accreditation in Low Vision, and now carries out Low Vision assessments for patients across both of our practices.
Sali is a fully qualified dispensing optician with almost 14 years experience in a range of practice settings. She brings with her a wealth of experience of both spectacle dispensing and contact lens practice. Sali also works part time as a tutor for trainee dispensing opticians who are working towards their qualifications.
Nia is a trainee dispensing optician and is currently (and very successfully!) working through the ABDO course to be a fully qualified dispensing optician.
Orsolya is our technician and dispenser, she checks every single pair of glasses that come in and out of the practice! She is multilingual and has experience of working in practices in lots of different countries over the years.
All our dispensing team are great at offering fashion advice as glasses are not just functional! They also all have input into our frame buying so we carry a wide range of styles reflecting each of their preferences.
In December 2018 the practice said goodbye to Rod. After many years’ service Rod decided the time had come to retire. We wish him well in his retirement and thank him for all his hard work.
Our reception team
Lesley, Jan, Clodette, Erin and Sian are our reception team covering both our practices. These are the voices you will hear on the phone or the staff that will greet you when you visit our practices.
They are fantastic at taking care of our admin and keeping the practices running smoothly.
They have a great relationship with our optometrists and dispensing team and will always point you towards the correct member of staff to deal with your query if they can’t help you themselves.