Loved Wonka? Stay in the sweet shop author Roald Dahl adored – it’s now a holiday rental available as an Airbnb

The origin story of Willy Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet, is currently being screened in cinemas. This comes a century after the character's creator, Roald Dahl, was developing his fondness for sweets while growing up in Wales. In his book, Boy: Tales of Childhood, Dahl wrote about a sweet shop in Llandaff in 1923 that was central to his childhood. This book, he insisted, was not an autobiography but a collection of stories recounting the most memorable events of his early life. The sweet shop he referred to was Catherine Morgan's Confectioner, located on the High Street in Llandaff, Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Today, it is available for rent as an Airbnb, owned by Stephen Lau and his wife, Amy, originally from Hong Kong, and managed by their nephew, Daniel Yau.

In his book, Dahl described how he and his friends would pause outside the shop window on their way to and from school each day to admire the jars of sweets. Despite their love for the sweets, Dahl and his friends despised the shop owner, who warned them to keep their hands off the chocolates. As a result, they devised a plan to hide a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers. Dahl immortalized this incident, including the ensuing chaos and the punishment meted out by his school's headmaster, in several chapters of his book. The incident was also published posthumously as The Great Mouse Plot for World Book Day in 2016, marking the centenary of Dahl's birth, and became a bestseller.

When the Laus purchased the property about 35 years ago, it was a Chinese takeaway called The Great Wall and an attached house. They were unaware of its connection with Dahl. Following an initiative by the Llandaff Society to identify the location of the sweet shop, a blue plaque commemorating Roald Dahl was placed outside the eatery in 2009. Ten years later, the property was converted into a holiday rental. The renovated property, now known as The Sweet Shop, features a living space where the shop used to be, four bedrooms, and four bathrooms. It receives numerous bookings from Roald Dahl fans who wish to visit the area. The property can accommodate up to 21 guests, attracting large families and groups from all over the UK and the world, including China and America.