TITLE

After the Blast

Tata Steel moves to end blast furnace steelmaking at Port Talbot, and a steel town reckons with what comes after.

RECORD

PLACE

Port Talbot, south Wales

DATES

2024

EMPLOYER

Tata Steel; various

UNION

Unite; GMB; Community

DISPUTE

Redundancy

FRAMES

13 · all shown

Photographed in Port Talbot and at a demonstration in Westminster between 31 January and 16 February 2024, as Tata Steel moved to close the blast furnaces at the works.

The valley from high on the hillside at dusk, a motorway curving past a reservoir towards the coast, industrial sheds and works stretching along the shoreline into haze.

01 / 13

Port Talbot
15 February 2024
10am

02 / 13

A bearded man in a fleece-lined hoodie sits in a club holding a Jack Russell terrier on his lap, the bar and its beer taps behind him and another man at a fruit machine.

Taibach Rugby club
16 February 2024
7pm

The rugby club stands directly opposite the blast furnaces

03 / 13

A flyposted sheet reading “Occupy the Steelworks! Nationalise Tata”, advertising a public meeting, pasted over a torn advert in a bus shelter on a wet high street, a British Heart Foundation shop behind.

Port Talbot
16 February 2024
10am

The steelworks and the town seen from high on the hillside above, a blast furnace and chimneys strung along the shore, breakwaters reaching into the sea, terraced streets below and sheep grazing the dark slope in the foreground.

04 / 13

Port Talbot
15 February 2024
10am

A packed crowd in winter coats and hats at a rally, Unite the Union flags raised and overlapping above their heads, several of them shouting.

05 / 13

Westminster
31 January 2024
9am

Tata Steel workers demonstrate in Westminster

06 / 13

A round sticker reading “Coal Not Dole — Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign” stuck to the top of a black portable speaker, a phone resting against it on the pavement.

A pale industrial building across a stretch of water, seen between the silhouetted posts of a timber fence with barbed wire strung above.

07 / 13

08 / 13

Two men sit smiling at a club table beside a half-drunk pint, framed rugby photographs and a club president’s portrait on the wall behind them.

Taibach Rugby club
16 February 2024
7pm

A van blurred with motion crossing a roundabout at dusk, the chimneys and sheds of the works standing flat against a pale sky behind it.

09 / 13

Port Talbot
16 February 2024
2pm

10 / 13

A bunch of flowers tied to a white seafront railing above a rocky beach, the breakwater and dock cranes low on the horizon under heavy cloud.

Two pebbledash houses seen end-on across a narrow alley, a satellite dish on one gable, a bicycle in the yard between them and a wooded hillside rising behind the roofs.

11 / 13

12 / 13

A hand-painted “Unit 8” sign on a black board at the entrance to an industrial estate, a corrugated shed and an engineering firm’s banner beyond the open gate, puddles across the track.

An electricity pylon and a single wind turbine on a dark ridge line against a flat grey sky, power lines running right across the frame.

13 / 13