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Bridgend (; or just Pen-y-bont, meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Ogmore. The River Ewenny also flows through the town. The population was 49,597 in 2021. Bridgend is within the Cardiff Capital Region which in 2019 had a population of approximately 1.54 million. Historically a part of Glamorgan, Bridgend has greatly expanded in size since the early 1980s – the 2001 census recorded a population of 39,429 for the town.
At Coity, the local Welsh chieftain Morgan Gam already had a stronghold. Sometime in the 11th century, Norman Lord Payn de Turberville approached Morgan to turn over control of Coity Castle to Turberville. Morgan Gam agreed, on condition that Turberville either fought Morgan for the land, or took Gam's daughter Sybil's hand in marriage. Turberville married Sybil and became Lord of Coity, and rebuilt the castle.
Newcastle Castle (on Newcastle Hill, overlooking the town centre, 1106) and Ogmore Castle (1116) were built by Robert Fitzhamon and William de Londres, respectively. About north-east of Ogmore Castle, Maurice de Londres founded the fortified Benedictine Ewenny Priory in 1141.
These three castles provided a "defensive triangle" for the area – a quadrilateral if Ewenny Priory is included.
Bridgend grew rapidly into an agricultural town. It became an important market town, a status it retained until the late 20th century.
The Great Western Railway arrived and Bridgend was at the junction between the main London to Fishguard line and the branch to the three valleys. Frequent coal trains took coal down the valleys; and when the Vale of Glamorgan railway opened, coal could be sent directly to port at Barry or via other branch lines to Porthcawl.
Several quarry opened in and around Bridgend town centre; some remnants of these can still be seen today near Brackla. An engine works was opened in the town and a larger farmers' market also opened in the town centre, where it remained until the 1970s.
In 1801, the population of what is now Bridgend County was around 6000. By the beginning of the 20th century this had risen to 61,000. By this time Bridgend was a bustling market town with prosperous valleys to the north, a thriving community and good links to other towns and cities.
At its peak, the arsenal had 40,000 workers, many of them women. Large numbers of them were transported by bus from the Rhondda and the valleys.
The factory complex had three sites in Bridgend, all linked together by a large network of railways. Many reminders of the factory sites remain to this day. Brackla Ordnance Site .
In March 1945, 87 POWs from Island Farm escaped through a tunnel, but all were recaptured. While Bridgend was as important during the war as any other part of Wales, and although it was photographed by the Luftwaffe, it was never the Blitz, although the area immediately around Bridgend did suffer bombing raids. The admiralty ceased full-scale production in December 1945 after five years. Two of the munitions-storage magazines in the Brackla ROF site were converted to a regional government headquarters during the Cold War as part of the UK continuity of government plans. It is now in the hands of a private company.
In 1960, the River Ogmore burst its banks and flooded the town centre. Subsequent floods and extreme weather led the Welsh Water Authority to develop concrete flood defence walls along the banks of the River Ogmore in the town centre. The town centre has not been flooded since. During this time, Bridgend was chosen to become the headquarters for South Wales Police. This action was ideal as geographically, Bridgend stands equidistantly between Swansea to the west and Cardiff to the east.
The Beeching cuts of the 1960s had the loss of passenger rail links in the Vale of Glamorgan and to the northern valleys. The Vale of Glamorgan link to Barry via Rhoose was reinstated in June 2005.
In the 1970s, Bridgend began to see the catalyst of arguably its biggest growth period. The "missing section" of the M4 motorway was constructed around the town, plans were afoot to change the Waterton Admiralty into an industrial estate, and the water supply was improved including new sewage treatment works near Ogmore-by-Sea. Two major multinational , the Ford Motor Company and Sony, set up factories in or on the outskirts of the new Bridgend Industrial Estate (former Waterton Arsenal).
The development of the Brackla Housing Estate in the 1980s, housing developments at Broadlands to the south-west of the town centre and the continuing expansion of Brackla to the north-east have caused Bridgend's population to swell dramatically. Due to this, traffic congestion and a lack of parking facilities within the town have become important issues in the area. In 1997, a new link road/bypass route was built to link the town centre directly to the M4 motorway, as well as redirect traffic around the town centre.
A new Securicor-operated prison (HM Parc Prison) was built near Coity in the late 1990s. The prison opened in November 1997.
The McArthur Glen Designer Outlet opened in 1998.
To counteract the dominance of Tesco in the area, Asda were granted planning permission for a new superstore near the town centre. The store was opened on 31 March 2008 by the local MP, and players from Bridgend Ravens. Over 1500 customers were thought to have walked through the new doors to take a look around the new store.
In 2004, an award-winning new bus station was constructed and traffic movements around the town centre were altered. Local committees, together with the council, started to use the pedestrianisation of the town centre to its advantage, culminating in several fairs including Continental Markets, Festivals, a small Mardi-Gras, and seasonal markets and events. Bridgend Council estimated in 2009 that these events have brought 900,000 visitors to the town and generated around £53 million for the local economy. Bridgend County Borough Council Report to Town and Community Council Forum, 14 April 2009
About £2.5 million of European funding was used to create a "riverside café culture" by constructing a walkway along the River Ogmore, River Ogmore Walkway & Bridge, Bridgend Bridgend County Borough Council which was completed in March 2009.
Studies were carried out by the local council with a view to improving retail provision in the town centre. Attracting bigger high-street chains to the town, such as Marks & Spencer, Next, and Debenhams is seen as key to this. Can high street giants revive Bridgend? 28 February 2008
At Elder Yard, a derelict listed building in the heart of the town centre is due to be converted to a restaurant and provide the impetus for other improvements there, including a public courtyard and extra retail and leisure provision. Unveiled – the master plan for town centre WalesOnline, 6 August 2009
After the 2012 election, the council was made up of 39 Labour councillors, 10 Independents, 3 Liberal Democrats, 1 Conservative and 1 Plaid Cymru. The Youth Mayor of Bridgend County Borough as of 2017 is Niamh Gwilym, and the Deputy Youth Mayor is Leigh Williams.
Bridgend was an electoral ward to Glamorgan County Council from 1889 to 1974, electing the Earl of Dunraven as its first representative. Since 1995 the town has been covered by three wards to Bridgend County Borough Council, Morfa, Oldcastle and Newcastle, which each elect two councillors.
At the Town Council level, Bridgend is represented by nineteen town councillors on Bridgend Town Council, elected from the three town wards of Morfa, Oldcastle and Newcastle.
Bridgend recovered quickly from the decline of traditional industries, particularly coal-mining due to other alternative forms of employment. Wages are generally higher here than in other parts of the South Wales valleys. There are large industrial estates at Bridgend and Waterton (formerly Waterton Admiralty) which host a number of small-scale and multi-national companies, mainly manufacturing.
Ford's engine plant near Waterton used to employ around 2,000 workers and was one of the area's largest employers, working on range of low carbon "EcoBoost" engines. The plant won praise from Peter Mandelson in January 2009 who described it as "a top-of-the-class, world-beating engine production plant." Ford invested £315million in the Bridgend plant between 2004 and 2009. Ford Bridgend praised by Mandelson WalesOnline, 16 January 2009 The Ford plant closed in September 2020.
IT Consultancy Group CGI Group have an office in Bridgend, and Lidl has also set up its Welsh headquarters and distribution site at Waterton. Zoobiotic, a company specialising in maggot therapy, has its facility near Bridgend town centre. Also, since 1983, famous dart board producer Winmau has based its global headquarters in Bridgend.
Others include Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Staedtler, engineering consultancy Skanska, aeronautic maintenance and project management company TES Aviation and home accessories manufacturer Dekor plc. The Semiconductor Photomask Company, Photronics Inc, has had a manufacturing operation for the last 20 years at the Ewenny Science Park.
However, there have been significant economic blows to Bridgend including Sony's closure of the Bridgend plant and downsizing of the Pencoed plant. The plant is still Sony's biggest in the UK despite this. Other manufacturers to have pulled out of the area include Wrigley Company and Dairy Farmers of Britain which went into receivership in June 2009.
Bridgend has a lack of high-wage service jobs; however the retail sector in particular provides a large proportion of employment in the town and borough. In 2008, there were 13,100 people in Bridgend County working in construction and manufacturing, while 42,900 were working in the service sector. StatsWales 2008 employment report
Sub-regional GVA for the Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot NUTS3 region stood at £12,402 per capita in 2006 ($23,191 at June 2006 values). This figure represents 65% of the United Kingdom GVA per capita, 87% of Wales GVA per capita (£14,226) and 103% of West Wales & The Valleys GVA per capita (£12,071).
Gross disposable income for Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot in 2006 stood at £3,338 million or £12,379 per head. This was 88% of United Kingdom per head figure (£14,053) and slightly above the Welsh per head figure (£12,366).
In 2008, the average full-time gross weekly earnings in Swansea, Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot was £484.20 (£531.70 for men, £426.10 for women). This was 97% of the Welsh average (£498.10).
In the first half of 2009, unemployment in Bridgend County Borough stood at 8.9% StatsWales Annual unemployment Rate 30 June 2009 and economic inactivity stood at 21.4%. StatsWales Annual economic inactivity rates 20 March 2009
The percentage of workless households in December 2008 stood at 20.6% compared to the United Kingdom average of 16% and the Wales average of 18.8%. StatsWales; Workless households by household status 31 December 2008
There are out-of-town shopping areas at Waterton, near the A473, on Cowbridge Road and at The Derwen, Junction 36 of the M4, home to the Bridgend Designer Outlet.
Wildmill railway station, about north of Bridgend railway station, serves the estates of Wildmill, Pendre and Litchard and is on the Maesteg Line. A park and ride station at Brackla, about south-east of Bridgend railway station is planned and is due to be constructed once capacity improvements have been made to the South Wales Main Line. Services to a new railway station in Llanharan began in December 2007.
Bridgend bus station has services to urban and rural areas in South Wales. Most services are operated by First Cymru under the "Bridgend & County" livery.
An east–west cycle route has been constructed from Brackla through to Broadlands and into Cefn Glas. Bridgend is on the National Cycle Route and there are off-road spurs from the Celtic Trail to the town centre and a community route in the River Ogmore. Glyncorrwg and the Afan Valley about north of Bridgend near Maesteg is famed for its mountain bike trails, considered amongst the best in Europe.
For scheduled and chartered air travel, Bridgend is served by Cardiff International Airport, to which there are direct rail and bus services.
At least nine primary, , and are in the town, though several of the junior and infant schools have merged to form single in recent years.
Also, two special-educational needs schools are there: Heronsbridge School which is linked with Brynteg Comprehensive School and at the back of Bridgend College. It is for students of primary and secondary school ages with severe learning disabilities. Another school, Ysgol Bryn Castell, offers education for Key Stage 1–4 students with moderate to severe learning disabilities; it is linked with Bryntirion Comprehensive School and has opened up a satellite unit at Cynffig Comprehensive School, a few miles west of Bridgend.
Bridgend College is the town's further education and higher education provider; it primarily offers vocational courses and . It attracts school-leavers from as far as Swansea and Cardiff. It offers a range of higher-education courses such as Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Higher National Certificate, and Higher National Diploma in various subjects and master's programmes at its Queens Road campus on Bridgend Industrial Estate. These are mainly franchised from the University of South Wales. The Pencoed Campus has a focus on sport, animal care, and horticulture, and Maesteg Campus offers more community-based programmes.
Bridgend College has its own residence for students aged 16+ with learning difficulties and physical disabilities who come to the college from all over Wales.
In December 2008, Bridgend Council introduced its first alcohol-free zone, restricting the consumption of alcohol to pubs, clubs, and other licensed premises in the town centre to help address alcohol-related issues. Alcohol-free zone set to begin , Bridgend County Borough Council, 26 November 2008 CCTV is in operation throughout the town centre, and usually police have a presence of some form. Since July 2007, the streets of Bridgend are also patrolled on Friday and Saturday evenings by Street Pastors, an inter-denominational church response to urban problems, engaging with people on the streets.
Talks held to twin Bridgend with the city of Tripoli in Libya between 2004 and 2009 sparked debate.
Bridgend Athletic Bridgend Athletic RFC was reformed in 1972, after the Bridgend Youth team members in that year wanted to form a senior team so they didn't have to go their separate ways into senior rugby, hence the formation of the club which had previously existed up to 1939. The club become full members of the Welsh Rugby Union in 1983. The club were promoted from Division 5 Central in 2001, were WRU Division Four East Champions in 2002, were then promoted from Division 3 to WRU Division Two West in 2003 through the league organisation and were promoted to Division 1 in 2004. They have suffered relegation from that league once, but bounced back in 2009, winning WRU Division Two West. They play in WRU Division One West.
Bridgend Sports Bridgend Sports Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Bridgend. Formed in 1938 by Victor Blick, the team survived the cessation of club rugby in Wales between 1939 and 1945, during the Second World War. There have been in existence at least two other clubs in Bridgend throughout the club's history providing local competition. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and play in the WRU Division Four South East. They won the Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy on three successive years between 1979 and 1981, and were champions of WRU Division Five South Central in 2010.
Celtic Warriors
The Celtic Warriors, formed in 2003, are a defunct regional rugby union team that was mainly based at the Brewery Field in Bridgend. When regional rugby was enforced by the Welsh Rugby Union, Bridgend RFC and Pontypridd RFC, who were both professional clubs at the time, merged to create the Celtic Warriors as one of the five new regional rugby teams in Wales. However, they were dissolved after one season due to financial problems that had plagued the club. Pontypridd RFC had sold their share of the region early on due to their own financial difficulties, with the remaining share which had been owned by Bridgend RFC, being sold off to the Welsh Rugby Union at the end of the season. This led to the winding up of the Celtic Warriors region by the WRU, as there was not enough money to keep the region afloat. There were high points for the region: 10,000 turned up to watch them face European champions-in-waiting Wasps RFC and even beat the Wasps 9–14 at Adams Park a week earlier. The team finished 4th out of 12 in the Celtic League in their only season of existence.
Ospreys Rugby
The Ospreys were formed in 2003 after the merger of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC, which took place after the Welsh Rugby Union forced through regional rugby as the top level of Welsh rugby. Bridgend became part of this region following the demise of the Celtic Warriors. Although the Ospreys play their home matches at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, since 2010 they have played their home Anglo-Welsh Cup home games at the Brewery Field, which is normally two games a season.
Bridgend's geographical position means South Wales rivals Cardiff City and Swansea City pick up support from the town.
For the 2010 Super League season, Crusaders initially announced they would play at Newport's Rodney Parade ground for two seasons. However, in the run up to the new season the Celtic Crusaders franchise was sold by owner Leighton Samuel to Wrexham Football Club parent company, Wrexham Village Ltd and the side moved to Wrexham, playing home fixtures at The Racecourse Ground.
Bridgend's second rugby league side is the Bridgend Blue Bulls, one of the UK's most successful amateur clubs having won two UK national amateur titles in four years and Welsh Champions five years in succession. The Bulls played at Coychurch Road but following the announcement about the setting up of the Celtic Crusaders they were invited to play at the Brewery Field by the owner Leighton Samuel. One year on they were refused permission to continue playing at the Brewery Field in the middle of the season. They were then aided by Porthcawl RFC and staged the remaining 2006 home games at the Porthcawl ground. Subsequently, Porthcawl RFC have become their regular home and have even staged an amateur rugby league international there during 2008 (Wales v Ireland).
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