Site of Tredegar Workmen’s Hall
This car park is where Tredegar Workmen’s Hall stood until demolition in the 1990s. Snooker stars Ray Reardon and Cliff Wilson honed their skills at the hall as youngsters.
The building was a temperance hall when it opened in December 1861 – no alcohol was sold there. The hall cost £2,500, of which £1,600 was raised through subscription payments by working people.
The aim was to give men somewhere other than pubs to socialise and relax, but the first day was far from peaceful! Tickets for the opening evening were sold to thousands of people, more than the hall’s capacity. Police were dispatched to maintain order as the crowd demanded entry. When the doors eventually opened, people surged in and furniture and fittings were damaged. Some of the windows had been broken.
The hall featured an auditorium, dance hall and billiards room. A committee of workmen took it over in 1890, and by 1906 it had 4,000 subscribers. It became a workmen’s institute in 1911. Films were first shown there before the First World War, and in the 1930s the building was enlarged to create a cinema.
The first of many eisteddfodau at the hall was held in April 1862, with cash prizes for singing and recitation. The hall’s large library was stocked with books, newspapers and magazines. The library committee was chaired in the 1920s by Aneurin Bevan, who later founded the NHS. He understood the power that lay in reading and education, and once said: “Knowledge is the one armoury they can’t deny us.”
The billiards and snooker room enabled local lads Ray Reardon (1932-2024) and Cliff Wilson (1934-1994) to practise. They went on to become snooker champions. Ray, who had worked at Tŷ Trist Colliery after leaving school, eventually became a snooker professional and won the world championship five times in the 1970s.
Postcode: NP22 3NA View Location Map