Port Talbot’s Steel Closure Captured in Community Photography Exhibit

Tata Steel’s blast furnaces in Port Talbot, South Wales, ceased operations in 2024 after more than a century of activity. The shutdown eliminated nearly 3,000 jobs and has left the town—already among the most deprived in the United Kingdom—grappling with supply-chain disruptions and the loss of a long-standing economic anchor.

The Guardian

Photographer Jon Pountney, based in the Rhondda, created the “Steeling Ourselves” exhibition, which combines photographs, portraits and recorded interviews with residents. The display is housed in the Plaza community hub and forms part of the “After the End” research project coordinated by the Universities of Exeter, Oxford and Liverpool John Moores. The project seeks to document how communities experience major industrial endings and to inform future regeneration strategies.

The Guardian

Long-time resident Margaret Heggett, now 95, recalls never having known a quiet Port Talbot and notes that while the steelworks provided jobs, their loss has been “very sad.” Many interviewees describe the silence after the final furnace as eerie, yet they also highlight the town’s resilience—people gathering on Aberavon beach, children in pushchairs, and wildlife reclaiming nearby meadows.

The Guardian

Patricia Kingori, professor of global health ethics at the University of Oxford and lead researcher on “After the End,” emphasizes that the exhibition is grounded in hearing the lived experiences of those facing an imposed “ending.” She warns that the pace of change has left the future of work and labour unsettled, describing Port Talbot as a “canary in the coal-mine” whose conversations will echo in other towns undergoing similar transitions. Tata Steel is pursuing a shift to a greener electric-arc furnace, but the project has encountered delays and is expected to employ only a fraction of the former workforce.

The Guardian

• Blast-furnace operation: >100 years (closed 2024)

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• Jobs lost: ~3,000

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• Exhibition debut: two years after closure (2026)

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• Research partners: University of Exeter, University of Oxford, Liverpool John Moores University

The Guardian

The exhibit therefore serves both as a visual record of loss and a testament to the community’s determination to shape its own future.

The Guardian