Rising costs are changing shopping habits in one of Wales' poorest areas
BBCAlthough there's just five weeks to go before Wales takes to the polls, Senedd election fever is yet to hit Maesteg's bustling high street.
But from chatting to shoppers and business owners in the town in Bridgend county, it's clear one of the main issues concerning locals ahead of 7 May - like in other parts of the country - is the rising cost of things like groceries.
And it appears to be changing people's weekly shopping habits.
"[Customers] are more savvy," said the owner of Go Bananas greengrocer's Hayley Morgan. "They do come in and just buy two or three things and they look for little bargains."
She said people were now more likely to buy loose products - one apple, one banana at a time - rather than larger pre-packaged amounts.
"If you want to do a fruit salad for yourself you can just buy one of each [and] you haven't got to buy a bag full and throw half in the bin," she explained.
Hayley said she had noticed her costs of buying in some items such as tomatoes and peppers were starting to creep up, which she put down to rising oil prices.
Butcher Andrew Garner has also noticed some interesting changes.
"I'm selling a lot of sausage," said Andrew, who took the business on from his father 28 years ago.
"It's busy towards the end of the month when people are getting paid.
"Also a lot more people are paying with cash and that tells you when they're watching what they're spending because once the money's gone it's gone and they can't just keep tapping on their cards."
Many people across Wales have been in touch with BBC Your Voice ahead of the Senedd election to tell us they are concerned about cost of living pressures including rising oil prices and the cost of bills.
Andrew said he would definitely be voting in the election, but does he believe that politics can change things for the better?
"Can it be any worse?" he laughed.
After Wales' parliament was established 1999, Maesteg was represented within the Ogmore constituency - historically a stronghold for Welsh Labour in Senedd elections.
But constituency boundaries have changed for this year's election, with 16 new and bigger constituencies being created to replace the 40 Wales previously had, and Maesteg now falling in the new one of Afan Ogwr Rhondda.
The constituency, with a population of 194,083, has the highest proportion of both primary and secondary age pupils entitled to free school meals and the highest economic inactivity rate in Wales.
Some locals don't appear to have much faith that the Welsh Parliament will be able to help turn around the town's fortunes.
"They [politicians] do tend to see us as the poorer area because we're up in the mountains, up in the valleys," said retired catering business owner Barbara Farmer as she was shopping at Go Bananas.
She said she had not yet decided which party to vote for.
"Because a lot of them lie, basically," she said.
"I'm not saying they deliberately lie, they've got good intentions, but they don't seem to carry it out."
Go Banana's owner Hayley said she isn't even convinced the Welsh Parliament is a positive thing for Wales.
"It's another tier of politics that takes a lot of money and what do they get done? Who knows," she said.
"I don't know whether [devolution] was a good thing, but we've got to live with it, haven't we."
The rising cost of living doesn't necessarily mean everyone is tightening their purse strings, however.
Michael Newth, who has run his business KMP Jewellers for 50 years, said one change in his customers' spending habits was the increase in people buying gold as an investment.
"Where I used to sell lots and lots of the smaller items, I sell a lot less now. But when I do sell things they're of a greater value," he said.
He added that "you've only got to look at how many new cars are on the road to see that people will still buy expensive items".
Despite his own business costs rising, the 77-year-old said he had been resisting his wife's encouragement to retire.
"With Maesteg people, I think if they were down to their last pound they'd lend you 50p of it, that's the type of people in Maesteg.
"[The business is] not about the money, it's about the camaraderie I've had with the people in Maesteg for all these years. It's a pleasure to come to work."
And locals supporting their high street is allowing new businesses to flourish, too.
Mother and daughter Joanne and Charlie Bruford from Cardiff have only just opened their brand new pasta and salad takeaway Delicious, and on a Thursday lunchtime their customers were queuing out of the door.
"We've been a sell-out since Saturday, every day," beamed Joanne.
"This has been my dream since I was 16, but I never had the guts to go ahead and do it [before]."
Joanne said opening during a cost of living crisis felt like a risk, but that so far business was booming.
"We're trying to keep our costs down but this week peppers and tomatoes are a lot more expensive than last week," she said.
Asked about the election, Joanne said she "lived in hope" things would change for the better.
Julie Evans said she was visiting Delicious for a takeaway to treat her salad-loving grandson and cheer him up after a trip to the dentist.
Julie, who cares for both her husband who has dementia and her eight-year-old grandson who is autistic and nonverbal, said being on a pension while the cost of everything went up meant she was having to make cut-backs.
"Less heating, trying to budget meals. I plan meals a week in advance, what I'm buying and what I'm not so that I can afford to get what they want," she said.
She admitted fun days out were becoming "less and less" and said the family had been on just one holiday in the past six years.
"It depresses you because it's the same thing day in, day out and you don't get away from it so that's the hard part," she said.
"I don't get respite, I'm in zombie mode, it's difficult."
Does she hold out hope that the election could change things?
"Not really, no," she said.
"[Change is] promised by every party and delivered by none, so what do you do?"
The deadline for candidate nominations is 9 April and a full list of candidates will be available for all constituencies on the BBC News website.
