After 1945
After World War II, an an industrial estate developed at Kingswood - The Pembroke Woollens Company operated next to Davies Steel, whose products included roller skates. Today, traditional and newer industries continue to operate in the Dockyard, in the Kingswood area, and elsewhere.
Heavy industry after 1945: Oil, construction & power stationIn the 1960s and 70s, the oil industry became a major source of employment in Pembrokeshire, with the BP jetty, and the Esso, Texaco, Gulf and Amoco refineries. These brought work on a series of construction projects, and jobs on the completed refineries. BP, Esso and Gulf subsequently closed, however.
Pembroke Power Station, closer to Pembroke Dock, also brought construction work in the late 1960s and offered permanent employment until the 1990s.
In the early 1990s, the proposal to burn orimulsion fuel aroused passionate debate. Environmentalists argued this would threaten health and nature, while National Power maintained the fuel was safe and economical, and would keep jobs. Heavy pollution, after the tanker "Sea Empress" ran aground, added to environmental concerns. The scheme was abandoned, and the power station closed and partially dismantled.
A century before, the environmental impact of development had been dismissed rather more brusquely. In 1897, Llangwm fishermen objected that Pembroke Dock's new sewerage system would destroy the oyster beds at Pennar mouth - "the choicest oysters are to be had at Crow Pool". The inspector showed scant sympathy - "I don't want to hear about the choicest oysters". (laughter) "I want to know about sewerage".Similar debate surrounded the nearby LPG project, which is now under way.
Pembroke Dock is one of Pembrokeshire's newer tourist attractions, with its restored historic buildings and its museum.
Today's visitors follow the footsteps of tourists a century ago, when holidaymakers at Tenby were advised not to miss a trip to the nearby shipyard, "deserving of the most attentive and careful inspection". Dockyard policemen would give guided tours, showing the machines in operation - "The steam engines should be visited ... the Nasmyth hammer in full operation, the huge furnaces, bellows, iron beams ... the huge anchors and chains, too, will astonish". Beatrix Potter was duly impressed, although she noted that with 3000 men working on "thousands of iron rivets, the noise was deafening". A visit to the same site today is slightly less dramatic, but considerably quieter.
