A year after working his final shift on the blast furnace, ex-steelworker Levi Roberts is operating two smaller ovens – baking pizzas – in a converted horse-box in Port Talbot.
The 29-year-old invested most of his redundancy package in his new business venture which he came up with while chatting in the garden.
He’s one of about 2,000 Tata Steel employees who lost their jobs when the blast furnaces were shut down last year.
Tata said it had already started the work to build a £1.25bn blast furnace in the town.
“The whole town has definitely gone quieter; there’s less traffic on the roads and in the evenings you don’t see the shining bright lights in the sky, Mr Roberts said.
“Little things like walking down the beach and not seeing ships coming into the harbour or any steam coming from the blast, it does feel strange.”
Having been at the steelworks for the majority of his working life, Mr Roberts said he never really considered any other career option. But after being made redundant, he decided to set-up a business in the food industry.
More than 40 local businesses have received grant funding from the Tata Steel transition fund, according to data from June this year.
His ‘Flame’n’Bake’ pizza business currently opens on Fridays and at weekends behind a pub in the town centre and he takes bookings for events.
He also works part-time on the railways and delivering parcels during the rest of the week as he tries to grow his business.
“It’s a bit of a reality shock because we were getting paid a very decent wage in Tata and then coming out into the jobs market and looking for local jobs it’s a scary time especially for people with mortgages, kids, everyday bills to pay,” Mr Roberts said.
“As a small community, a small town, you bump into people you used to work with and there are some who are still struggling to find a new avenue to go down.”
When news of sweeping changes at the steelworks first came to light at the start of 2024, huge uncertainty faced thousands of families.
Ria Thomas’ husband decided to look for a new job even before the blast furnaces were switched off. Despite only ever knowing a career in the works, he’s now a prison officer.
“He said he’d get redundancy money and we’d be okay for a couple of months, but like I said to him, we’re soon going to be in the same situation as a thousand other people.
“Port Talbot is a very small town and there isn’t any jobs going, so we started looking before any decision was made about his job so we knew as a family we’d be sorted.
“My husband has friends who were in the steelworks but some of them have tried different career paths and it’s just not suited them.
“Some have had to move away as well and one of them has gone to Hinkley Point for example. So they’re living away to get work now, which isn’t ideal,” she said.
Ms Thomas said it became quite “eerie” when the blast furnaces were shut off and the flames and smoke were no longer visible across the town’s sky line.
“You notice the cars haven’t got that orange dust on them anymore, especially if you live close to the steelworks and you can peg your washing out.
“It does feel cleaner when you’re looking across and you can see there’s nothing coming out. And the smell isn’t there, like we used to have that eggy smell coming from there.”
Tucked around the corner from the sprawling site of the steelworks, the Dock’s Cafe has had to adapt during the past year.
It’s lost customers during the week and it doesn’t get orders to deliver to the gates of the steelworks, but changes mean the business is still getting by.
“It has had an impact but not as much as we were expecting,” said owner Damian Hayden.
“We don’t see many of the workers quite as much and we’ve gone to a different clientele now.
“We’re maybe not as much of a greasy spoon or workers’ cafe now, we’re trying to be more of a community cafe.”
They have expanded their delivery service and branched out to providing Sunday lunches and children’s meals.
Mr Hayden also runs a security firm which supports a number of pubs and clubs across Port Talbot and the surrounding area.
He said: “It is having an impact… not us as a security company but more the pubs and clubs. They are not seeing as many people there and their outgoings have gone up as well. So some of them might be struggling.”
