Tucked in a red and white striped corner booth in Cresci's cafe is a woman sat alone reading a newspaper and drinking a mug of tea. I approach her cautiously, not really wanting to disturb her peaceful morning spent in the quiet of the cafe.
She tells me her name is Liza Osborne, she's from Winch Wen, Swansea, and she's been coming to this place for years as she used to work in Neath. "Their ice cream is much better than Joe's," she tells me in a hushed tone as she sips her tea. "And it's so friendly, I could sit here all day if I wanted to. You see the same faces. I just come in here to relax." Liza would not tell me her age but her Cresci's ice cream order is vanilla with chocolate sprinkles - in case you're wondering.
Like many other loyal customers, visiting Cresci's is part of Liza's weekly routine and has been for years. "Some people have been customers here all their lives. They come here out of habit and don't even know what they want to order sometimes. We must be doing something right," said John Cresci, 84, who is sat outside the cafe.
Even though John retired from the business two years ago at the ripe age of 82, he still visits the cafe most days to sit outside and watch the world go by. But only if the weather is fine, otherwise you can forget it, as I quickly learnt the first day I visited the cafe to interview him, when it happened to be drizzling outside and he was nowhere to be seen.
On my second attempt to speak to John about his thriving business - it's one of the longest-serving Italian cafes in Wales and has become a staple in the Neath Port Talbot community of Skewen - the sun is shining and, low and behold, he is sat on a table in front of the cafe as his sons serve customers inside. I sit beside him and make the most of the opportunity to find out more about the extraordinary cafe which has served a community for over 100 years.
"I was born in 1939 above the shop. The war was on. My family were Italian. So there was a problem. There was an angry mob outside the shop one day. The vicar of Skewen stood in the doorway to talk the crowd down," John recalled. You can get more Neath Port Talbot news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Cresci's opened in Skewen back in 1920. The shop and cafe later moved a few doors down the street in 1947 but not much has changed since it first opened, including the much-loved ice cream it serves.
The shop was located near three pits, the area was bustling and hundreds of miners would visit each day to buy cigarettes. When the shop moved in the 1940s, a big appeal of the new site was its proximity to the bus stop as huge queues would pop in for coffee or a packet of cigarettes while they waited for the bus. "Shopkeeping is all about location. You've got to be in the right place," said John.
The war years were more difficult, said John. "We had the rationing and my father was very strict with it. There was no under the counter dealing like a lot of other businesses. It was a difficult time. We were open all day with nothing to sell. You couldn't make any money. But you just get on with what you've got."
John went to Coedffranc Primary School and from a young age he worked for his parents, Jospeh and Maria Cresci, who hailed from Bardi, Italy. "The boys were out here asking, 'are you coming out to play?' But I had to put my hours in. I got no wages, no pocket money. My father didn't believe in that," he said.
The key to Cresci's survival during John's childhood? Home-made ice cream was the secret weapon. "The ice cream was our unique product. Cigarettes were always a big thing - the most expensive thing we sold. Everything was in short supply during and after the war. We were lucky we made our own ice cream, a lot of other shops had to buy in and that was their difficulty."
One hundred years later and their ice cream is still the defining feature of the business. "It's fresh. We make it everyday. The recipe is still right. If you've got it right, don't change it," said John.
Now his sons, Joseph Cresci, 55, and Robert Cresci, 54, run the family business and freshly prepare the ice cream each day. Joseph has been working in the cafe since he was six, when he first started mopping the floors every Thursday when the business closed early for a deep clean.
"Everybody knows you. It's just a way of life working here. Whether you make money or not, it doesn't matter," said Joseph on his lifelong career at Cresci's. Until last year, he worked 364 days a year and only took time off on Christmas Day. Since their father retired, Joseph and his brother have taken two weeks off in January. They do a lot of the work themselves at the cafe, from mopping the floors to making the ice cream and a lie-in for them is waking up anytime after 6am.
"It's hard work. If you want to open a cafe, come and see me and I'm going to say don't bother," said Joseph's brother Robert. He became a partner in the business at 21 after taking courses in business and catering and admitted he had a love/hate relationship with Cresci's. "When we were off in January, I couldn't wait to come back. I've been here for so long. Seven days a week, doing long hours. It's just life. I've got ninety-year-olds coming in here. They've probably been coming here since they were in a pram."
You can buy your daily newspaper in the cafe, tuck into a fry-up, order a Knickerbocker Glory, grab some homemade pies for lunch or enjoy an old-school frothy-coffee. The seating area is fairly modern but I am told this was only changed a few years ago and prior to the refurbishment the cafe was filled with fittings and furniture from the 1970s.
But there's something oddly familiar about Cresci's. You get the feeling that it's been there forever despite the odd facelift it's been treated to over the years. There's also something comforting about the old-fashioned ice cream menu behind the counter advertising the staple desserts of a North Pole or a Strawberry Sundae.
But you also get the sense that the cafe is a relic of times gone by. A Welsh-Italian cafe that has outlived many of its compatriots and is holding onto its final years. Neither Joseph or Robert have children and on their plans for the future of the business, Joseph just tells me they'll keep on going for as long as they can.
"Everything comes to an end and we're on the last lap. Things change," said their father John, who is still sitting outside the cafe. "This type of business is over. People's tastes change, people's expectations have changed. We've survived here for so long. Most of our customers we've got today we've had since they were children. They've been customers all their lives."
But as John said himself, Cresci's must still be doing something right. In fact, Joseph said they'd never sold as much ice cream as they do now. Their furniture might be newer and their ice cream van may have been upgraded from a horse and cart, but Cresci's still has a devoted local following and shows no signs of slowing down just yet.
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The Italian cafe that's been making ice cream for more than 100 years in a Welsh village - Wales Online
"cafe" - Google News
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