South Wales - Industry Today

Industry Today

The former heavy industries of coal and iron production have disappeared since the economic struggles of the 1970s, with the closures of that decade continuing sharply into the 1980s, and by July 1985 just 31 coal pits remained in the region. Further closures left the region with just one deep mine by the early 1990s, and this finally closed in January 2008, by which time it had transferred to private ownership after being sold off by the National Coal Board.

These industries have since largely replaced by service sector industries.

The cities along the M4 corridor are home to a number of high-profile blue-chip companies such as Admiral Insurance, Legal & General and the Welsh based Principality Building Society. A large number of telephone call centres are located in the region and in particular in the Valleys area. Merthyr Tydfil is home to the principal UK call centre for German mobile telephone company, T-Mobile. Many jobs are also provided in small-scale and family businesses. It is clear from anecdotal personal contacts, apart from official figures, that the new industries have so far failed to cope with the task of providing stable employment for the large number of employable people resident in the area.

The television and film sectors are fast becoming a major industry in South Wales, with the development, by the BBC, of a vast dedicated production studio in Nantgarw, near Pontypridd, for the highly successful Doctor Who series. Lord Attenborough is shortly due to open the first completely new film studio in the UK in over fifty years. Dragon International Film Studios, a huge purpose-built studio complex located alongside the M4 motorway between Bridgend and Llantrisant, contains a number of large soundstages which have already attracted the interest of a number of Hollywood directors and producers alike, looking for suitable facilities in Europe.