Tower Colliery tourism
Stephen Fairclough and the Eye on Wales team focus on how Tower Colliery's owners, the miners who bought Wales's last deep pit, see tourism as the next stage of its working life.
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The last coal was dug out of Tower Colliery, Wales's last deep mine, more than 10 years ago.
For a while the miners, who became celebrities when they bought the pit, turned to opencast production but that, too, has gone.
Now the owners of the colliery in the Cynon Valley have ambitions to diversify and make the 400-acre (160 hectare) site into a hub for tourism.
They are already wooing Zip World, the outdoor adventure attraction based in former slate mining areas in Gwynedd.
And the Tower site would still have enough space to potentially host the UK’s largest planetarium, as major works on improving the Heads of the Valleys road nears completion.
The programme hears from Tyrone O’Sullivan, the miners’ leader who led the buyout, but with the prospect of mass tourism on the horizon, it also hears from some with reservations about the potential challenges that might bring.
Broadcasts
- Wed 20 Mar 2019 18:3091Èȱ¬ Radio Wales
- Sun 24 Mar 2019 18:3091Èȱ¬ Radio Wales
Podcast
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Eye on Wales
The programme focused on in-depth explorations of the day's most pressing stories.