Opened in March 1973 by John Fulgoni BSc FBCO alongside his wife Wendy, who took the front desk for thirty years. Today the chair belongs to their daughter Francesca Fulgoni, Dispensing Optician and Low Vision Practitioner (FBDO Prof Cert LV). Same Cross Street address, same family at the door, same insistence on the time a proper eye examination takes.
Independent optometry means the time a proper examination takes, the imaging stack a chain branch rarely carries, and an actual person at the desk who knows the patient before us.
Full eye examinations on the OCT scanner and retinal camera, the imaging stack a high-street chain branch rarely has. NHS sight tests free for the over-60s, under-16s, diabetics, anyone with a first-degree relative who has had glaucoma, anyone on Universal Credit or income support.
Book an appointmentRun by Francesca herself, FBDO Prof Cert LV. Hands-on demonstration of handheld and stand magnifiers, task lights, typoscope shields, reading stands, matched to the patient's actual hobbies, the crossword, the knitting, the garden. NHS-funded for qualifying prescriptions, private assessments below threshold.
Ask about low visionSame-day appointments under the Welsh General Ophthalmic Services scheme (EHEW) for red eye, painful eye, sudden loss of vision, double vision, flashing lights, floaters, minor foreign bodies. Phone 01873 853657 first thing and we will fit you in around the booked clinic.
Call 01873 853657Independent dispensing, the full breadth of frame brands rather than a chain's restricted catalogue. Soft and rigid contact lenses, trial fittings, aftercare. Emergency repair the same day, mail-order delivery for housebound patients, NHS frontline workers triaged as urgent.
Talk about frames
John and Wendy Fulgoni, fifty years on. John had grown up above Fulgoni's Café in Pontypool, the family business his Italian parents had built. He qualified as an optometrist (BSc, FBCO), opened a first practice in Pontypool, then moved the family to Abergavenny in the spring of 1973 and took the long unit at 17 Cross Street. He and Wendy lived above the shop in Francesca's first year.
Wendy ran reception for thirty years before retiring in 1999. John kept the testing chair as head optometrist for half a century. Today the practice is run by their daughter, Francesca Fulgoni FBDO Prof Cert LV, who grew up in the rooms above the shop and trained into the trade her father opened. The new company name on the lease, G and F Fulgoni Limited, was registered in August 2025. Same Cross Street address, same family, same Italian coffee on the counter.
“At Fulgoni's, we care about all our patients and want them to have a good experience with us, which is something that my dad really encouraged.” Francesca Fulgoni, in Optician Online, 15 March 2023
In 2023 Francesca, Dorian, David and Joel visited The Wye Clinic Hereford with cataract surgeon Mr Simon Madge to observe cataract surgery, practise suturing, and try the phacoemulsification probe on Phillips Studio eye models under a Leica M822 Full HD OptiChrome surgical microscope.
Two of our own referred patients were on the surgical list that day. We watched them through the procedure and saw the lens implants seated on the Leica monitor.
For any patient we send up the A465 to The Wye Clinic for cataract surgery, this is what we know first hand: the clinic, the microscope, the surgeon, the lens. The pathway is not a leaflet handed across the counter, it is a place our team has visited.
An inheritance from John's parents' café in Pontypool. There is fresh Italian coffee on the counter when you arrive for an appointment and after-care chocolates at the desk on the way out.
Different decades play through the shop through the day. For patients living with dementia we choose the era we know they will find familiar. The chair before the slit lamp is a quieter chair when the music is right.
Glasses repaired, prescriptions delivered, contact lenses posted. If a regular cannot make the climb up Cross Street any longer we bring the practice to the door.
A short form for a callback. For an urgent eye problem, painful or red eye, sudden vision loss, floaters, flashing lights, please phone 01873 853657 first thing rather than wait for the form. For everything else, drop a note and Bev or Jade will phone the next opening hour.
A real person reads every callback request. Bev or Jade will phone you back within the next opening hour, or the next morning if it comes in after 5pm. Or just call 01873 853657.
17 Cross Street
Abergavenny
NP7 5EW
Phone 01873 853657 · 01873 852307
Email reception@fulgoni.co.uk
Walk from the station five minutes up the high street, opposite the Town Hall, a few doors below the Angel
Park Castle Street and Lion Street car parks, both a two-minute walk
The shop closes for lunch one to two, Monday to Friday. Thursday is an early-close half-day, the market-town pattern. Saturday morning we are open eight-thirty to noon. Fresh Italian coffee waiting on the counter.
Yes if you are aged 60 or over, under 16, under 19 in full-time education, diabetic, registered blind or partially sighted, on Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance or pension credit guarantee or Universal Credit (with named exemption), or aged 40 or over with a parent, sibling or child who has or has had glaucoma. There are a couple of other categories too, so phone us on 01873 853657 if you are unsure, we will check your category against the Welsh General Ophthalmic Services rules.
Low vision is what optometrists call not being able to see well enough for the task even with glasses or contact lenses on. The Welsh service is run from the practice by Francesca FBDO Prof Cert LV, an assessment of what you can and cannot do (read the paper, knit, follow the television, write a card) and hands-on demonstration of magnifiers, task lights, typoscope shields and reading stands until we find the combination that returns the task to you. NHS-funded if your prescription qualifies, private assessments otherwise. Bring whoever lives with you to the appointment.
Yes, in almost every case. Phone 01873 853657 first thing and we will fit you in around the booked clinic that day. Wales runs an Eye Health Examination Wales scheme (EHEW) that covers urgent presentations including red eye, painful eye, sudden loss of vision, double vision, flashing lights, floaters, and minor foreign bodies. No charge to the patient. If we cannot manage the problem in the chair we refer onward the same morning.
Yes. Our direct-refer pathway is to Mr Simon Madge at The Wye Clinic in Hereford, twenty minutes up the A465. In 2023 the Fulgoni team (Francesca, Dorian, David and Joel) spent a day at The Wye Clinic with Mr Madge observing cataract surgery and practising suturing and lens insertion on the Leica M822 surgical microscope. We take an OCT scan and retinal photograph before we send the referral, and the first post-operative refraction comes back to us on Cross Street.
The shop closes one to two Monday to Friday so the team can sit down for lunch, the practice has done it since 1973 and we are not about to change. Thursday is the long-standing Welsh market-town half-day, eight-thirty to one, the same pattern Cross Street has kept for decades. We open Saturday morning eight-thirty to twelve for everyone who cannot get away during the week. There is fresh Italian coffee on arrival every day.