Trostre Steelworks

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Trostre Steelworks is a tinplate factory in Pemberton, Carmarthenshire. It was planned in 1947 by the Steel Company of Wales and is now part of Tata Steel Europe. The area’s name comes from the Pemberton family, landowners who helped develop Llanelli’s early industry.

After World War II, the government urged the Steel Company of Wales to boost production. They planned two tinplate works: Trostre and Felindre. Trostre was chosen because it had good railway access and could use local tinplate skills. Construction began in August 1947 after three farms were bought. The site was marshy, so the main groundworks contractor had to invent a new formwork system using steel panels made from repurposed air-raid shelters. This was the first steel panel formwork system in the world. Production started in 1951, and Felindre was approved the same year. By 1956, Trostre were producing 400,000 tons a year.

In 1967, the Steel Company of Wales became part of the British Steel Corporation. The plan then was to run three tinplate works—Trostre, Felindre, and Ebbw Vale—each with four tinning lines, capable of up to 2 million tons a year.

Felindre often produced more, but in December 1980 British Steel decided to close it. In 1981, 1,300 jobs were cut (138 people found work at Trostre). Felindre’s production ended, and in 1989 another 108 workers moved to Trostre as the plant finally closed.

In 1999, Koninklijke Hoogovens and British Steel merged to form Corus. With overcapacity in Europe and changing demand, Corus focused tinplate at Trostre and closed Ebbw Vale. Ebbw Vale shut down in 2002, with some lines moved to Trostre and IJmuiden in the meantime. This left Trostre as the UK’s only tinplate manufacturer.

In 2021–2022, Tata Steel at Trostre celebrated its 70th anniversary with an art project on cans printed with images of Trostre’s history and people.

Today, about 700 people work at Trostre. The plant makes tinplated steel, electro chromium coated steel, and laminated steel for packaging like food and drink cans, aerosols, and paint tins. It receives hot rolled steel from Port Talbot and IJmuiden, plus some cold rolled steel from Llanwern. Most materials and products are moved by DB Cargo UK from Margam Yard. Customers include Heinz, Ball Packaging Europe, and Crown Holdings. The site also hosts Tata Steel’s Packaging Recycling team, one of the UK’s largest steel recyclers, and it was among the first in the UK to gain ISO 14001 environmental accreditation.