LOST CITY STREETS
Remembering the rows of homes that made way for council HQ
IT MAY have been 38 years ago, but Joan Rogers still remembers it like it was yesterday. Her childhood “playground” was Swansea beach, and the sights and sounds of nearby locomotive trains were almost like ambient noise.
The 81-year-old grew up surrounded by an environment that only a select few in the city will ever be able to relate to. And that’s because she lived in a neighbourhood of three rows of terraced houses that are now just a memory.
Every single day, thousands pass by Swansea Civic Centre, off Oystermouth Road, the giant concrete home of the city’s council which has been there since 1982.
But long before it was built, there was a thriving community of people living alongside where it now sits.
Bathurst Street, Sloane Street and Paxton Street had to be demolished to make way for the new home of the council, and in the years that have followed, those houses have largely become forgotten pieces of Swansea’s history.
But not in the heart of Mrs Rogers. Together with parents William and Eliza, and her brothers Ken and Billy, she lived in Bathurst Street before her dad got money together and bought a home in Sloane Street. She was seven at the time, and stayed there until she was 31.
“We were surrounded by industry,” the pensioner said.
“We were right in the middle of everything. It was a lovely community, and it was nice to grow up in a street where everybody knew one another. If there was a party going on all the women would get together and lay the tables.
“It was an interesting place to live, we were only five minutes from the beach which was our playground and we all looked after one another. It was safe.”
Large engine sheds and associated lines built by the LMS Railway stood on the spot where the Civic Centre is now, with the houses located in the location of the car park.
There were also popular pubs, including the Shipping Inn and the Copenhagen Arms in Sloane Street and the London Hotel in Bathurst Street.
“Looking back at it, we were happy. If you’ve got nice memories it makes a hell of a difference. I used to walk my dog in that area and I’d love to reminisce, saying this is where this was, this is where that was.”
Another person who remembers the neighbourhood fondly is SallyAnne Jones, whose grandparents Dolly and Richie Jones lived at 20 Sloane Street.
She would go and stay on the street with her grandparents whenever her parents were on holiday.
“There was a front room full of little ornaments and trinkets my grandparents would pick up from when they went on cruises,” she recalled.
“There was then a middle room which was the main living area, I remember my grandad would smoke a pipe in the corner.
“Then there was the kitchen, and that’s where the bath would be underneath a big fold-down worktop, and an outside toilet.
“It was lovely, it was a community and the neighbours were really nice. I remember the ladies used to sweep and mop the pavements. People took pride in the area.”
In 1981, the residents living there received some news that would affect their lives irreversibly, as they were told there were plans to demolish all three rows of houses to make way for the new home of the then West Glamorgan County Council.
Mrs Rogers recalled: “It was upsetting. I was devastated as it was our own property. My brothers had married and I had not at the time, and my dad always told me, ‘If anything happens to us, you’re safe with a roof over your head.’
“On the other hand we had coal fires, and what they were offering us elsewhere were houses with nice central heating and bathroom and toilets.”
But the main concern for those living there was not bricks and mortar, it was that they could remain together with their beloved neighbours.
They fought to be moved elsewhere together as a unit, and were eventually relocated to Paxton Drive.
Mrs Rogers said: “We were scared we would have to move to Townhill or Mayhill, but they built these houses for us and we came over together as a community. It had never been done before.”
Ms Jones added: “My grandparents were quite excited for what was going on there. They were sad the house was going to be demolished, but quite excited about where they were moving to. Families fought to stay together.”
The home of the council was opened in July 1982, as County Hall, and was the headquarters of the former West Glamorgan County Council.
Following local government reorganisation in 1996, its ownership was transferred to the new City and
County of Swansea.
The building was renamed the Civic Centre on March 19, 2008, and Swansea Central Library was moved in as part of a redevelopment scheme, where it has remained ever since.
The authority has long-term plans to demolish the building, and has said it is still looking for new bases for its staff and services.
Today, Bathurst Street and Paxton Street have been retained as names on the seaward side, but, of course, all the old houses have gone.
The name Sloane Street disappeared for ever, but you can still make out signs of it if you look closely enough.
You can make out a kerbstone of the old street within Paxton Street car park, near the pay and display.
But for Mrs Rogers and Ms Jones, the true reminders of their former homes will not be kerbstones or renamed roads elsewhere.
It will be the memories they shared with their families and neighbours, which will last a lifetime.