‘Newport is on the road to recovering its place in the life of southWales’

When Newport acquired city status in 2002 it was against a backdrop of gloom.

More than 2,100 steel jobs had been axed in Gwent the year before, almost half of those based in Llanwern.

The town had already failed to secure city status twice – in 1994 and 2000. So it was hoped its fortunes could be turned around.

Fifteen years later Newport is a different place. But change has been a long time coming.

“These things mean everything and nothing, it depends what people make of it,” Newport West MP Paul Flynn said.

He claimed Newport’s “unique features and robust character” made it deserving of city status.

“There is a certain cachet in being a city rather than a town,” the shadow leader of the House of Commons, 82, said.

“They concentrated on the fact that it has the wonderful Tredegar House and the worldclass Celtic Manor hotel and the cathedral and Roman remains at Caerleon.”

The contest to win city status was launched to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Hollywood legend Anthony Hopkins, whose parents once ran Caerleon’s Ship Inn, had backed the bid.

So had telecoms billionaire Terry Matthews, owner of the Celtic Manor.

He had just put Newport on the map by persuading the organisers of the 2010 Ryder Cup to hold their contest at his resort. Four years later the 2014 Nato summit was held there.

Mr Flynn said: “There are not tangible benefits. One of our problems was we could not change the name of the football team from Newport County to Newport City.”

He warned shouting “up the City” in Newport might not be beneficial to one’s health “because of the associations with other cities in south Wales.”

“City status is not a magic cure for a place’s ills, but it is all positive and advantageous,” he said. “It gives you a feeling of antiquity and permanence. Our cathedral was here in the sixth century and the Romans before that.”

Lister Tonge is dean at St Woolos Cathedral. The site became a religious one in the fifth century. Woolos is a corruption of Gwynllyw, the name of a Welsh saint thought to have lived between AD450-500. The church’s presence was key to Newport’s transition from town to city.

“You only have to look at the buildings above the shopfronts to see this is a city with an enormously proud past,” Rev Tonge said.

“Newport is on the road to recovering its place in the life of south Wales.”

The award was announced by then Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine on Thursday, March 14, 2002.

Then First Minister, the late Rhodri Morgan, sent a personal message of congratulations, dubbing it a “welldeserved honour”.

He said Newport has had “most, if not all, the characteristics of a city for many decades”.

“It is a go-ahead and vibrant gateway into Wales,” he said.

Valerie Hoppe was married to Benjamin Hoppe, chairman of the campaign to make Newport a city. He died aged 83 after a fall this year.

“The only involvement I had was going to the dinner with the Queen,” she said.

“They held it in the leisure centre. I sat two tables down from her.

“It was much better than expected. I did think it would have been nicer to have it at the Celtic Manor or one of the other hotels, though.

“I didn’t speak to the Queen but she and Ben had a chat. He said the lady-in-waiting, who was on the other side, was very nice.”

She said it was “quite an achievement” acquiring city status. “It was a bit of a joke that Ben was a Swansea man,” Valerie said.

“We came up from Swansea in 1963.”

Former Newport council leader Bob Bright helped bring the Friars