Pontypool was once one of the most properous and industrially vital towns in the whole of Europe if not the world.

Many things came from Pontypool, but it was in the 1970s that the name really meant something beyond the borders of Gwent and even Wales.

That was in the days of The Great Man, Ray Prosser - the power behind what Max Boyce called the Viet Gwent, the Pontypool Rugby Football Club, and in particular the world famous Front Row of Faulkner, Price and Windsor, ably backed up by Cobner.

Those were the days. Sadly things have declined on the rugby front these days, but after many years spent in the slough of despond we are seeing a NEW Pontypool arising from the depths of despair that has been our burden for so long.

A new shopping precinct is arising in the town centre. Hopefully this will encourage those from the Upper Eastern Valley to place their business both commercial and domestic in these new facilities.

Then of course, a sight that cannot fail to impress all who arrive in the borough, the newly built Tesco arising above the town with better and cheaper shopping for all who enter the store.

No longer the trip to Newport for our regular monthly foray into the world of groceries and such like. Now we can spend less time and fuel in getting to where we normally do our spending.

This modernising of the town will most certainly address the problems that have both belittled and demeaned Pontypool for too many decades.

Maybe the days of the famous Pontypool market are soon to be revitalised, so that once more it will be a pleasure to spend time in the town centre.

The park given to the town by a local benefactor has seen much better days, and now that the town centre is once again to become a centre of excellence, hopefully the park will soon follow suit.

John Morgan - September 2004