SWANSEA: Primark marks 50 years in Wales — with the city’s store among its first in the country

Primark is marking 50 years in Wales, and the Swansea store has been part of the story almost from the beginning.

The retailer opened its first Welsh store in Newport in May 1976, and Swansea followed two years later in November 1978 — making it only the second Primark in Wales.

The Swansea store opened on St Mary’s Square, where it remains today.

Primark in Swansea City Centre

To mark the anniversary, the chain has installed commemorative window displays in three of its Welsh stores — in Cardiff, Wrexham and Newport.

The Newport store, on Commercial Street, opened as just the fifth Primark in Great Britain, making Wales one of the first places in the country to welcome the retailer.

It remains on the same site today and, at 15,400 sq ft, is still the smallest Primark in Wales.

Cardiff opened in 1981 and has since moved twice. At 87,000 sq ft it is now the largest Primark in the country.

The retailer now has eight stores in Wales, including one at Trostre Retail Park in Llanelli, which opened in 2017.

Primark in Llanelli’s Parc Trostre

Across Wales, Primark covers more than 300,000 sq ft of retail space and employs over 1,100 staff.

The company said 174 of its Welsh colleagues had worked for the retailer for 10 years or more.

Kari Rodgers, UK retail director at Primark, said Welsh high streets had changed enormously over the past five decades.

“The demand for great quality and affordable fashion and essentials is just as strong as it was when we first opened our doors,” she said.

“We’re proud to be part of the community of Wales, providing employment and career opportunities as well as playing an active part in the localities we serve.”

The retailer said its Welsh stores had raised more than £1 million for charity through its carrier bag charge, including donations to the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital charity and the Wales Air Ambulance.

Primark was founded in Ireland in 1969 and now has more than 480 stores across 19 countries.

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SCHOOL SAFETY: Llanelli councillor calls on Welsh Government to put life-saving bleed kits in every school in Wales

A campaign to place life-saving bleed control kits in every school in Wales has reached the desk of the new Welsh Government Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language.

Labour councillor Shaun Greaney, who represents the Lliedi ward on Llanelli Town Council, has written to Anna Brychan MS asking her to commit to placing critical bleed control kits in every primary and secondary school in the country.

Each kit costs around £95 and contains military-grade equipment designed to help control major blood loss before emergency services arrive. The contents include a tourniquet, chest seal, haemostatic gauze, blunt-edged shears, gloves, a foil blanket, a resuscitation shield and a trauma fix bandage, along with a body map instruction card.

Cllr Greaney has argued that the kits should be treated as a basic safety tool in the same category as defibrillators, which are now widely deployed in schools and community settings across Wales.

“After all, as a society we shouldn’t be asking what price a child’s life,” he said. “I think the kits will be seen as a crucial safety tool in the same way that defibrillators are. Nothing is more precious than a child’s life. I sincerely hope the initiative is taken up before there is a preventable tragedy.”

Campaign with a track record

Cllr Greaney is no stranger to public access emergency equipment. In October last year, he used CPR skills learned on a town council course to revive an unconscious man in Stepney Street, reinforcing his long-running campaign to expand the availability of defibrillators and bleed kits across the town. In December, a new defibrillator was installed at a children’s play area in Bigyn as part of a wider Llanelli Town Council drive he has helped lead.

In February, campaigners called for bleed control kits to be installed in every Carmarthenshire school and outside public buildings across the county, warning that Carmarthenshire was falling behind its neighbours.

Those neighbours include Swansea, where more than 430 critical bleed control kits have now been installed — the highest number anywhere in Wales — in a rollout backed by Swansea Council and the charity Heartbeat Trust UK.

The local network behind the campaign

A network of councillors, businesses and charities has been steadily building bleed kit provision across the area. Former Llanelli paramedic and Labour county councillor Rob Evans, a GoodSam emergency responder, has been instrumental in securing ten kits for primary schools in the town, with funding from local businessman Paul Brookfield.

All registered kits appear on the national Bleed Map, a UK-wide database designed to allow members of the public to locate the nearest emergency bleed control kit as quickly as possible. The scheme in south Wales is led by the charity Heartbeat Trust UK, under its trustee Melanie James, a former High Sheriff of West Glamorgan. Welsh icon Max Boyce backed the rollout last year at the launch of a kit at Glynneath RFC.

Cllr Greaney has previously pushed for kits to be installed alongside defibrillators in existing community centre and park cabinets across Llanelli — a move backed by the town council during its previous Labour administration.

The Links donation

A kit has now been donated to Llanelli mental health charity Links, where it sits inside the defibrillator cabinet on Queen Victoria Road. Links general manager Michele Rees said the equipment was vital.

“Having this equipment readily available is vital, as rapid treatment of severe bleeding can help save lives before emergency services arrive,” she said.

The defibrillator at the Links cabinet was installed a couple of years ago following a fundraising drive by Cllr Greaney and the charity. Mrs Rees said it had been accessed three times since installation.

A test for the new Welsh Government

Cllr Greaney’s letter to Anna Brychan represents one of the earliest specific policy asks placed before the new Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government on a school safety issue. First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has pledged that his administration will prioritise primary care and frontline services.

The Llanelli initiative also has the backing of Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith.

Members of the public can find their nearest registered bleed control kit using the UK Bleed Map at thebleedmap.com — a free online tool designed to help bystanders respond rapidly in the event of a serious bleeding emergency.

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HYWEL DDA: Stroke patients in west Wales face major shake-up as health board prepares to launch new consultation — with Glangwili set to become the region’s only 24-hour acute unit

Stroke patients across west Wales could face much longer journeys for specialist care under plans being put out to public consultation — with Llanelli‘s Prince Philip Hospital set to lose its acute stroke capability if the preferred option goes ahead.

Hywel Dda University Health Board will decide at its public board meeting on 28 May whether to launch a second round of consultation on the future of stroke services — the one area it couldn’t reach agreement on when it made decisions on eight other fragile services at an extraordinary meeting in February.

Under the preferred option now being put forward, Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen would become the region’s only 24-hour acute stroke and rehabilitation unit.

Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest and Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth would all become treat-and-transfer sites — meaning patients would receive initial stabilisation there before being transferred to Glangwili, or directly to a thrombectomy centre in Cardiff or Bristol.

Bronglais would also have a stroke rehabilitation unit under the plan.

The health board says the current setup is dangerous. Stroke services are currently spread across four hospital sites and there is no specialist cover seven days a week — meaning patients are not always getting the standard of care they should.

The preferred option was not one of the original ideas put out to consultation. It emerged from two alternative suggestions — Option 106 and Option 210 — put forward by members of the public during the first phase. The board felt that neither worked on its own, but combined, they could.

The proposal is a significant one for Llanelli. The town has already seen its Minor Injuries Unit downgraded as part of the same Clinical Services Plan process, and local councillors have been vocal about the cumulative impact of service losses at Prince Philip.

Councillor Sean Rees warned last year that Llanelli “cannot afford to lose any more” of its healthcare services, and raised specific concerns about what the stroke changes would mean for Prince Philip — including the added pressure of patients being transferred in from Ceredigion if Bronglais was downgraded.

The board’s chair Dr Neil Wooding said the second consultation was a direct result of what communities told the board during the first phase.

He said: “Thank you to everyone who has already given their time and provided feedback in the first phase of our Clinical Services Plan consultation, which has enabled us to reach this point. While we were able to take decisions on eight of the nine fragile services included in our Clinical Services Plan earlier this year, no decisions about the future model for stroke services have been made.”

Lee Davies, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning, said: “We know how important stroke services are to our communities, and we are committed to taking the time needed to understand people’s views on the preferred option and the other options already consulted on, before any final decisions are made.”

He added: “We need to change our current service to ensure that people in our communities have the best possible outcomes and chance of recovery from a stroke.”

The consultation will ask whether people support the preferred option — and if not, which of the previously consulted-on alternatives should be considered instead. People will also be able to flag equality and Welsh language concerns.

If approved on 28 May, the consultation opens the same day and runs until 26 July 2026. The board will then weigh all the evidence from both phases before making a final decision later this year.

The public board meeting on 28 May will be broadcast live online, with board papers already published on the Hywel Dda website.

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WRU: Ospreys and Scarlets still haven’t signed Welsh rugby’s new deal — four weeks after Ospreys said they would

Welsh rugby’s two west Wales regions are still unsigned on the deal that was supposed to secure their futures — and the WRU‘s plan to cut professional rugby in Wales from four teams to three remains very much alive in the background.

Ospreys chief executive Lance Bradley confirmed on Thursday that the region had not yet signed the new Professional Rugby Agreement — known as PRA25 — despite announcing its intention to do so four weeks ago.

The Scarlets are also yet to commit to the deal, which sets out how professional rugby in Wales will be run, including how much money each region will receive.

Bradley told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast the hold-up was not a cause for alarm. “It’s not signed yet, but it’s progressing towards that, so it’s very close,” he said. “It’s just a few details to sort out, there aren’t any problems with it.”

He also moved to dismiss reports suggesting the new agreement would mean budget cuts for the clubs. “There was some discussion about how you manage recruitment at relatively short notice, but no — there are no plans for a reduction in the budget,” Bradley said.

The two regions are currently signed to an older agreement that runs until 2028. Dragons and Cardiff — currently owned by the WRU — signed the new PRA25 deal in May 2025, which runs until 2030.

The Ospreys and Scarlets had held back from signing last year, releasing a joint statement seeking clarity from the WRU before they would commit. That stand-off triggered a significant escalation from the WRU.

In May 2025, the WRU announced it would move away from a model of four evenly-funded clubs — a move that sent shockwaves through west Wales rugby and fuelled fears for both regions’ survival.

What followed was one of the most turbulent periods in Welsh regional rugby history. Swansea Council went to the High Court seeking an injunction to halt a proposed WRU deal that it said would end the Ospreys. Fans launched a 10,000-signature petition. Politicians, supporters and public figures called for the WRU chair’s resignation.

The Y11 bid to take over Cardiff Rugby also collapsed in April — a significant moment that changed the landscape of negotiations, with the WRU subsequently moving to offer PRA25 to the Ospreys and Scarlets.

The WRU’s subsequent U-turn — offering both regions a professional rugby agreement — was celebrated by campaigners as a massive victory. But the deal still hasn’t been signed, and the WRU’s longer-term plan has not gone away.

The union wants to cut professional men’s rugby in Wales from four teams to three by the 2028-29 season, and has said it will outline the terms of how that will be achieved this summer.

Previous WRU proposals suggested only one team would remain in west Wales — which would mean either the Ospreys or the Scarlets ceasing to exist as a professional side. Bradley said he hoped it would not come to that.

“My personal preference would be that four regions is something that works very well,” he said. “Ospreys against Scarlets is the biggest club game in Welsh rugby — everybody likes to hate everybody else, but it’s a fantastic game and a fantastic rivalry, and I’d like to see it continue if possible.”

He added that the regions would need to see the full details of the WRU’s three-team plan before drawing any firm conclusions about what it would mean for west Wales rugby.

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CARMARTHENSHIRE: Swiss Valley councillor elected as new council chair — and he wants to get around the whole county to meet its people

Carmarthenshire County Council has a new Chair after Cllr Giles Morgan was elected to the role at the authority’s Annual Meeting on Wednesday, 20 May 2026.

The Swiss Valley Ward member takes over the chain of office from Cllr Dot Jones, who he paid tribute to on taking the chair — thanking her for her service to the council.

Cllr Morgan said: “I’m honoured to be elected Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council and I look forward to the year ahead.”

His wife, Mrs Claire Morgan, will serve as his Consort throughout the coming year, with Cllr Betsan Jones, the member for Betws, appointed as Vice-Chair.

After the ceremony, Cllr Morgan took to Facebook to say he was looking forward to getting around the whole county to meet people and organisations — and was delighted that his parents had been there to see him take up the role.

The appointment makes Carmarthenshire the third south-west Wales authority in less than a week to inaugurate a new civic figurehead. Swansea schoolfriends Cllr Penny Matthews and Cllr Susan Jones were inaugurated as Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor at Swansea Guildhall on 15 May, while music teacher Cllr Alan Lockyer was installed as Mayor of Neath Port Talbot at Margam Park the same day.

The Chair is the first citizen of Carmarthenshire County Council and is elected each year at the Annual General Meeting.

Duties include chairing full meetings of the council and representing the authority at formal and ceremonial occasions throughout the county.

The Chair is also responsible for welcoming visitors to Carmarthenshire and attending and supporting events organised by local people and organisations across the area.

Cllr Morgan has served as a County Councillor since 2004, bringing more than 20 years of local government experience to the role.

He currently chairs the council’s Corporate Performance and Resources Committee and also sits on the Audit Committee.

For his year in office, Cllr Morgan has chosen two charities — Dementia UK and Blood Cancer UK.

Dementia UK provides specialist dementia nurses, known as Admiral Nurses, who offer one-to-one support to families living with all forms of dementia — including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

Blood Cancer UK funds research into leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers, and provides support to patients and their families.

The charity was previously known as Bloodwise — a name it held from 2015 until March 2020, when it rebranded to make its purpose clearer to the public. Before that, it operated as Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Cllr Morgan’s election as Chair marks the beginning of a new civic year for the council, with a full programme of ceremonial and representative duties expected across Carmarthenshire over the next 12 months.

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LLANELLI: Man arrested after spate of car break-ins in Gilbert Crescent as councillor calls for ‘swift justice’

A man has been arrested after a series of cars were broken into in the Gilbert Crescent area of Llanelli — with footage of the break-ins shared on social media by one of the victims.

Dyfed Powys Police confirmed that officers are investigating a spate of thefts in the Gilbert Crescent area of the Lliedi ward, with the incidents taking place between 7pm and 8pm on Sunday 17 May. Residents reported personal items stolen after their cars were broken into.

One of the victims, Hefin Jones, shared footage of the incident on Facebook — describing the suspect as an “absolute scumbag” who had targeted several vehicles including his own.

Lliedi ward councillor Shaun Greaney made a public appeal for residents to come forward with information and urged police to act quickly. He described the crimes as “utterly despicable.”

“Residents work hard for what they have,” Greaney said. “Such abhorrent behaviour warrants tough sentences. I would hope that Dyfed Powys Police will act quickly to do all they can to catch the culprit.”

The footage, shared publicly on social media, proved crucial. On Monday 18 May — within hours of the incidents being reported — a 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft and bailed pending further investigation.

A spokesperson for Dyfed Powys Police said they were “currently investigating a spate of thefts in Gilbert Crescent, Llanelli” where “residents reported personal items stolen following their cars being broken into.”

The force confirmed the arrest and advised that their “enquiries are ongoing.”

The swift arrest delighted Greaney, who credited doorbell cameras and community vigilance for the result. “It’s great news that there has been an arrest in this instance,” he said. “It shows the value of door cameras and community vigilance.”

“One still wonders at the motives of the individual concerned,” he added. “I hope that justice is swift and that the penalty matches the crime.”

The case echoes a pattern seen elsewhere in our coverage — a prolific burglar in Baglan was jailed for five years after being caught on doorbell cameras trying a dozen doors, underlining the growing role that home security cameras play in helping police identify and prosecute suspects.

Despite incidents like this, the Dyfed Powys force area has historically recorded some of the lowest vehicle theft rates in England and Wales. Research published in 2022 found that drivers in the Dyfed Powys area were the least likely of any police force area to have their car stolen — with just 1.2 vehicles stolen per thousand households in 2021.

Anyone with further information about the incidents in Gilbert Crescent on Sunday 17 May is asked to contact Dyfed Powys Police on 101.

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CARMARTHEN: Reform MS vows to visit shop that ‘excluded’ his wife to seek ‘respectful dialogue’

A Reform UK MS has vowed to personally visit a Carmarthen shop that allegedly excluded his wife during the Senedd election campaign — after claiming she was barred from the business, chased in the street and verbally abused because of her political beliefs.

Gareth Beer MS, who represents the Sir Gaerfyrddin constituency covering Carmarthenshire, published a lengthy statement on Facebook on Tuesday paying tribute to his wife, Cllr Michelle Beer — before detailing what he described as a series of deeply troubling incidents she had experienced in the run-up to the May 7 vote.

“She has been excluded from shops in Carmarthen, verbally abused in the street, chased, and called vile names, simply because she believes in standing up for her country and representing Reform UK,” Beer wrote.

He said she had also faced exclusion from “local organisations (publicly funded)” — though he gave no details of which organisations he was referring to.

Later in the same post, Beer appeared to refer to a single shop rather than multiple businesses. He said he intended to visit it personally — not to escalate matters, but to seek dialogue.

“I will personally visit the shop in Carmarthen where this occurred and introduce myself,” he wrote. “Not to escalate tensions, but to ensure that respectful dialogue replaces hostility. Politics should never descend into personal harassment.”

The shop has not been named.

Beer acknowledged the broader political charge his statement was likely to attract. “We are repeatedly told that Reform is ‘divisive,’” he wrote. “Yet it was she who faced hostility and exclusion. It was she who was treated unfairly because of her political beliefs. That contradiction speaks volumes.”

“In a democratic society, no one should face intimidation or discrimination because of the party they support, whether that is Reform, Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives, or any other political movement,” he added.

Gareth Beer knows Carmarthenshire politics intimately. At the 2024 general election he came within 1,504 votes of taking the Llanelli parliamentary seat for Reform — the party’s strongest performance anywhere in Wales at that contest.

On 7 May he went one better. Beer topped Reform’s Sir Gaerfyrddin list and was the second MS declared in the constituency — becoming the first Reform UK MS ever elected in west Wales. The party took three of the six seats, with Carmelo Colasanto and Sarah Edwards also elected.

Cllr Michelle Beer made her own political history in May 2025, winning Llanelli’s Lliedi ward to become the first ever Reform UK member on Carmarthenshire County Council. She also stood as the sixth candidate on Reform’s Sir Gaerfyrddin Senedd list on 7 May — just missing out on a seat as the party’s vote was sufficient to elect only three of its six candidates.

Her ward borders the former Stradey Park Hotel — the site that became a flashpoint for protests in 2023 after the Home Office announced plans to house asylum seekers there. Both she and Gareth Beer were active in the campaign against those plans.

The protests attracted far-right groups and figures from across the UK, including Tommy Robinson, before the Home Office dropped its plans in October 2023. Dyfed Powys Police spent more than £1 million policing the demonstrations — three times the initial estimate.

Gareth Beer’s Facebook post was shared and endorsed by Reform UK leader Dan Thomas MS and chief whip Llŷr Powell MS — signalling that the party regards the incident as a broader political issue, not just a personal grievance.

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SWANSEA: Ten kids from Llanelli and Blaenymaes flew to Mexico City to represent Wales — and came fifth in the world

Ten young people from Swansea flew to Mexico City last week and came home with a fifth-place finish at the Street Child World Cup — Wales’s first ever appearance at the tournament, and one that took 18 months of fundraising by the players themselves to make happen.

The boys team was drawn entirely from Swansea City AFC Foundation’s Premier League Kicks sessions in Llanelli and Blaenymaes — two of the programme’s community sites in south-west Wales that offer free football and personal development sessions to young people who might not otherwise have access to them.

The Street Child World Cup, organised by Street Child United, is not a conventional football tournament. It uses sport, art and advocacy to challenge the stigma faced by street-connected children and campaign for their rights — shining a spotlight on young people living in street situations and the fundamental rights they often lack. Alongside the football, participants took part in arts workshops and congress sessions focused on human rights, diversity and cultural understanding.

Wales entered two teams — the boys’ side from Swansea, and a girls’ team based in Blaenau Gwent. The boys finished fifth overall in their first appearance on the global stage.

What makes the achievement particularly striking is how the players got there. The young people selected from the Premier League Kicks sessions spent 18 months volunteering and fundraising to cover the costs of the trip themselves — a commitment that required sustained effort long before any of them set foot on a pitch in Mexico.

Thomas Williams, Head of Programmes at Swansea City AFC Foundation, said the experience had been everything the programme hoped it would be. “We are thrilled to be a part of the Street Child World Cup, offering deserving young people a once-in-a-lifetime experience to represent Wales and play football against teams from across the globe,” he said.

“Young people from our Premier League Kicks sites in Llanelli and Blaenymaes were selected and over the last 18 months have been volunteering to raise funds to cover the costs of the trip,” Williams added.

“The young people selected from our Premier League Kicks sessions demonstrated tremendous commitment throughout the journey, spending 18 months fundraising to help make the trip possible. We could not be prouder of everything they achieved both on and off the pitch.”

The Premier League Kicks programme operates across Swansea City Foundation’s community sites, offering free sessions to young people in areas where access to sport and structured activities can be limited. For many of those who took part in the Mexico trip, it will have been their first time travelling internationally.

Wales’s debut appearance at the Street Child World Cup ended with a fifth-place finish — a result that, given it was the nation’s first ever entry in the tournament, represents a remarkable start for a programme built not on elite talent but on community, commitment and opportunity.

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LLANELLI: Woman charged with robbery and shoplifting after string of incidents at Asda, Home Bargains and Tesco Extra

A 41-year-old woman from Llanelli has been charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of shoplifting following a series of incidents at supermarkets across the town, Dyfed Powys Police have confirmed.

Kara Racuoco, of Llanelli, was charged following reports of offences at Asda on Murray Street, Home Bargains on Station Road and Tesco Extra at Parc Trostre between April and May.

The first incident was reported on Tuesday 7 April at Asda on Murray Street, where two bottles of wine were said to have been taken. A shop assistant was reported to have been threatened during the incident, leading to a robbery charge.

The second offence was reported on Tuesday 5 May at Home Bargains on Station Road, where a bottle of wine was said to have been taken without any attempt to pay. This incident led to a shoplifting charge.

Two further offences were reported on 16 and 17 May. On Saturday 16 May, two joints of beef were reported stolen from Asda on Murray Street, with threatening behaviour again reported during the incident — resulting in a second robbery charge.

The following day, Sunday 17 May, a further shoplifting offence was reported at Tesco Extra at Parc Trostre, where around £95 worth of meat was said to have been taken from the store.

Racuoco denied all four charges when she appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Monday 18 May. She was remanded into custody following the hearing.

A pre-trial plea hearing has been listed at Swansea Crown Court on Friday 19 June.

Dyfed Powys Police confirmed enquiries into all four offences are continuing.

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