Comment: Let's raise a glass to friendly town of Oswestry

"When people come in, they comment on the smell a lot," says David Jones, who keeps the T Jones saddlery and leathergoods shop at the bottom of Oswestry's Leg Street.

Once they have adjusted to the intoxicating aroma of leather, the second thing they will probably notice is the incredible array of hand-crafted products all around the shop. Belts, hundreds if not thousands of them. Dozens of handbags. This is no trendy city centre boutique, with spacious displays and soft lighting, but a living, breathing craftsmen's workshop.

"The shop has been here 120 years and I have been working here for 41 of them," says David, as he delicately cuts into a piece of leather with his scalpel.

"You get a great mix of people, those who have lived here all their life and visitors. This time of year you have got a lot of people passing through and they are sometimes a little surprised to see a shop like this."

David, who is 61, says Oswestry's character is defined to a large degree by its location on the Welsh border. While the town lies firmly within the borders of Shropshire, this has not always been the case. In medieval times it was seen as a key battleground between the warring Welsh and English armies and changed hands a number of times.

"It's a typical border town," he says. "You get families where some of them are English and some of them are Welsh. They have been born on both sides of the border."

Leg Street is a fascinating place for window shoppers. A short distance from David Jones's workshop is the Upstairs Downstairs specialist cook shop, which is packed to the rafters with top quality pots and pans and tableware, and also has its own cookery school for people wanting to improve their culinary prowess.

Yoss Gliksman, who has run the shop with wife Raine for 29 years, says Oswestry is a great place to live, although shopkeepers are having a tough time at the moment.

"Oswestry is a small community and a very close-knit one," he says. "It's a wonderful place to live, but the population is growing and the infrastructure needs to grow as well.

"People want to move to this area because it's a lovely place to live, but you need to provide them with services."

He is particularly concerned about the shortage of parking in the town.

"We have some good, individual specialist shops, but the town could do a lot better with a few improvements. The market needs to be on more often and we need free on-street parking for 40 minutes."

Enjoying a cool ice cream in the Shropshire sunshine is schoolteacher Jane Peters, 44, and daughter Emily, 15. The pair moved here from Liverpool four-and-a-half years ago, having for many years had a holiday home in the town.

Jane says it is the surrounding countryside which drew her to north Shropshire. "Within a few minutes you have got all the beautiful countryside, the rural settings are amazing, but you can also easily get to Shrewsbury or Birmingham as well.

"We go to all the shows, we go to the food festival at Christmas, and we go to Radfords for all the dressage competitions.

"It's completely different, it's a more relaxed way of life.

The people are very friendly. It's the old-fashioned way. People have got time to speak to you. You don't get that in Liverpool. I would never go back."

Over at the British Heart Foundation shop at The Cross, Rebecca Jones has one word to summarise Oswestry: Friendly.

"I have lived all over the place. I lived in Wolverhampton, I've lived down in Devon, but I always come back," says the 39-year-old.

"If you walk down the high street, everyone says 'hello'. I have lived in other areas and they don't.

"This shop depends on its volunteers and we have got some great volunteers at the moment.

We have got a great community spirit, we have some regular customers, but we support other shops as well. If people come in for something we haven't got we will send them to other shops in Oswestry."

Oswestry has a fascinating mixture of architectural styles, from the timber-framed buildings of several centuries ago, through to the Georgian and Victorian era, to some vaguely Art Deco styles from the first half of the 20th century, and of course some other 20th century buildings whose merits are more open to debate.

In Leg Street there is an attractive former chapel which has now been converted into a gymnasium, and next to it is a black and white timber-framed former restaurant which dates back to 1621. Sadly, this wonderful old building lies empty at the moment.

Anyway, keen to experience a bit of Oswestry's renowned friendliness, it's time to head to the pub.

Sitting at the bar of The Bailey Head, opposite the Guild Hall, is much-travelled regular Larry Smith, who moved to Oswestry to be with his wife June. "I came to Owestry for love," he says.

Larry, a 56-year-old web designer, was born in Newport, Gwent, but lived in Exeter before he moved here. "You have got a real mix of cultures, and this is a lovely pub with a great atmosphere."

Andy Lewry, 54, moved to the area 17 years ago, originally hailing from Yoxford in Suffolk.

"This pub is our oasis," he says. "You meet lots of different people, there is great beer and a lovely atmosphere. And that is down to Duncan and Grace."

Duncan Borrowman and Grace Goodlad are the husband and wife team who took over the former Castle Tavern in March, and relaunched it as The Bailey Head, with a firm emphasise on real ale and locally produced drinks.

The couple previously lived in Orpington, Kent, and say the two areas could not be more different.

"A 10-minute drive from here and you have got beautiful countryside, whereas a 10-minute drive from where we used to be and you have got the M25," says Grace.

"It does take a bit of adjusting to the fact that the shops all close at 6pm. Where we used to live we were next to a 24-hour Tesco, and that does make you lazy, you can just go out and buy milk at 2am if you want to. But here, if you run out of something on a Sunday, the neighbours will help you out.

"People here don't realise how blessed they are."

And having been treated to such warm and friendly hospitality, it is hard to disagree.