I was at Welshpool in the very early days and clearly remember the Air Racing and the Aerobatics; I also remember the death threats from the locals over the noise and the disturbance - try receiving them some day, it's just what you need as a 14 year old schoolkid...!
However, I also worked there during the week during my school holidays and clearly remember the level of business traffic that the place supported - that was after all what the European Funding was provided for - to build a business airport, not one which revolved almost entirely around flight training.
I worked for Pool from their first day for 2 years and enjoyed my time there immensely, however all good things come to an end and I left to pursue other things (like educashun...!)
Although I've long since left Mid-Wales, I've done OK and am now running a big old Aviation company in the South East, which I'd like to think stems from all of the input I got from everyone at Welshpool, not least Bob J - without him I doubt I'd have got bitten by the bug quite so much!
As for what it's like now, well, as I said, the main reason for its development was to support inward investment of companies into Mid-Wales and, as far as that's concerned, it's done an excellent job. Not only has it kept international companies in Mid-Wales it's also served a great role in getting more business into the area - over some of the more popular industrial locations of Europe.
With Mr Prescott's current plan to allow every airfield in the South East to be turned into housing, I'm still an avid supporter of Welshpool and what it's done for the business community of Mid-Wales. Whilst from a purely Private Flying point of view the place might not be as busy as it was when Pool was there, the fact that the runway extension's being done serves to indicate that perhaps the previous incumbents weren't really providing the financial input to let the place develop which it has done since.
The place was always friendly in the past and I can't honestly think that much has changed - we all have bad days FFS - you obviously don't remember Pool's Tony in one of his "better" moods!! At the end of the day, for GA flying it's the weekend that is the most important (and financially viable) and I guess that's what Welshpool's focussing on. Without the turnover of people that Pool produced, the demand for hot food in the middle of the week's probably disappeared a bit too.
But I'm guessing that hot food alone also didn't pay for the runway extension - the business traffic did so whilst nowhere can afford to lose a customer from a purely business perspective you have to balance up the cost of providing a full catering package against the chance of selling all the food in a day!
Sorry if that's a bit rambling, it's midnight and my eyes keep closing. Bloody PPRuNe!