With its quiet close-knit atmosphere and array of local businesses, Cefn-Coed-y-Cymmer is exactly what you'd expect of a traditional valleys village.
Located just on the edge of Merthyr Tydfil, it is the last community before you enter Brecon Beacons National Park. For decades the pubs, cafes, and shops have benefited from the village being a popular pit-stop for the motorists and cyclists who pass through it to the beauty spot.
But in 2021 business came to a complete standstill for some owners – and it's not because of the coronavirus pandemic. Rather it's down to the 11-mile stretch of major road works on the A465 that cuts through the village, business owners have said.
Section five and six of the the work spans from Dowlais Top to Hirwaun and is costing the Welsh Government £590m. It isn't set to be completed for at least another four years. It has seen the road bridge at the top of lower High Street shut since September for at least two years. The bridge not only connects upper and lower Cefn Coed but it is also the main route for motorists through the village.
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According to business owners in lower Cefn the works have not only put a stop to their relied-upon passing trade but it has also made the route into the village longer for those living elsewhere, which they said had a major impact on footfall and the local economy.
Amanda Lloyd's mum, Trisha, owns Trisha's Butty Hut and Cafe at the top of High Street shortly before the bridge. The warm and welcoming diner was unexpectedly quiet for a Tuesday lunchtime with us being the only ones inside apart from th e staff. Amanda said that had almost become the norm, with customers per day down to less than a third of what it was before the works started.
The 33-year-old said: "Where our business is based we rely on passing trade because we're the first and last cafe before you go to Brecon and when you come from Brecon. There's nothing further up so we did have a lot of customers from the passing traders – the cyclists and the motorcyclists A few of them have tried to come up but then they realise they can't go up any further and they've had to go back down.
"We've also had ambulances coming up here with the blue lights and sirens and they can't get anywhere. They come up here then they have to turn around and go back down."
Amanda said although she expected disruption because of the works she hoped the business would see some financial benefit from the huge number of workers popping in for refreshments. However she said this had not been the case.
"Friday and Saturday we are busier because we get a lot of the work boys who come in but realistically the work boys should be our bonus but they are our only customers at the moment," she said.
"It always varied day to day. Some days are quieter than other anyway – no two days are the same. But say if we had 30 customers a day before that's gone down to five to 10. We have taken a big hit. Through the week Monday to Thursday it's like a ghost town up here. It's really, really quiet."
Amanda said because of the impact on business her mother had to fork out extra cash on advertising to try and attract more customers other than their local regulars. "We're lucky that we have regulars who know where we are," she said. "[Mum] has had pay for her car to be wrapped with advertising and to have all new flyers done up. We rely on our social media page to get the word out."
Business for Amanda and her family has deteriorated almost unrecognisably, she said. Opening just at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 when many businesses began to struggle, Amanda said the cafe was booming.
She said: "We opened for takeaway and delivery throughout Covid, which we were all right doing. Then when we opened fully it boomed and it was always busy here between 9am and 2pm when we close. Then they closed the road and it went dead.
"Some times now you come into work and you think: 'What's the point?' It's draining emotionally. We've heard it's going to be closed for two years, maybe more. In the long run perhaps it will be beneficial when the road opens but that's not going to be for another few years. We've got to try and survive it first."
And for some regular road users the works might well be worth the few years of disruption. According to the Welsh Government the works aim to improve traffic flow and make it safer to overtake along the A465. It is also hoped that the road will be made safer, particularly around junctions and areas with poor visibility. Access to key services should also be improved such as jobs and markets supporting areas like the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone.
In Cefn Coed the High Street bridge will eventually be replaced with a new structure to widen the new road to the north and south. Workers will also strengthen and widen Taf Fechan viaduct to carry the new A465 road.
But for the owner of Cefn News in High Street the works are causing more harm than good at present, she said.
"My business has become very quiet. People don't come for their bread even – they prefer to go into Merthyr Tydfil town because they have to come a longer way in. Customers have been complaining they have to drive a longer way into the village," the owner, who did not want to be named, said.
"The people who are living in Trefachan (north of the A465 and High Street bridge) can't come straight through as they used to – they have to come around the village. It has been this way for about three or four months and it's gotten worse and worse."
She said some days she finds herself sitting behind the counter for most of the day rather than serving customers as she used to. She said despite the huge impact on her business she and others had not been offered any compensation.
She said: "I think local businesses are are getting more harm than those in Merthyr Tydfil town. After lockdown our business picked up but now it's getting worse again. Most of the time, if it is not Monday or Tuesday, I'm sitting down behind the counter. Most of the days one customer comes in but most of the time I'm just sitting down here. Another business owner came to us a few months ago and asked, because of the roadworks: 'Are you getting any compensation? Because my business is very quiet'. I said we're not. I think all of the businesses here are affected."
The owner, who lives in Aberfan, said sometimes she even has to work fewer hours to pick her child up from school. She said her usual bus regularly turns up late because of the works.
"My bus is always late because of the roadworks. It can be 10 to 15 minutes late every day," she said. "It makes it harder for me to pick my daughter up form school. I have to work less so I can do that. They used to be on time."
A second shop worker, who works at Your Choice newsagents, said the last few months had been so quiet that business had halved.
He said the shop had been left without their newspaper delivery on a number occasions since the work started. He believed this to be because of traffic delays and confusing changes to the road's layout.
"As soon as they started the road works our business halved. Before the road closed I'd get about £1,200. The next day I had only £500. We're looking to sell the shop now. It wasn't an option for us before the roadworks started – there were lots of people passing through before then," the shop worker, who also did not want to be named, said.
"I drive in and the traffic has got worse. Every day the plan changes – some days I'm coming through one way and then suddenly it has blocked which makes it very difficult. Some days we don't get newspapers. I have rung the driver and have been told it's because a road is blocked. He comes morning time and people are coming for their newspapers and they're not here."
Tracey Gillman, 49, works at Cefn Stop'n Shop at the top of lower High Street just before the bridge. She said because of the recent reduction in customers the shop had changed its opening times and was accepting less stock to sell.
"Whereas we used to open at 6am we've now started opening at 7.30am due to no traffic going through because they've closed the bridge off. It was costing more to run the place – we weren't taking the money because there was no traffic. Before this it was pretty steady," she said.
"We've had to reduce our intake of stock, like bread and things, because we're not getting a footfall as we were to come in and buy it. We had the passing trade but we're just surviving on the locals now We had the people going to work and walkers passing through. I normally do mornings and it's quiet in the mornings but even the afternoons now they've gone a lot quieter.
"It's also a bit stressful not knowing what's going to happen next with it. Our delivery drivers know which way to go – then all of a sudden it's changed and it's adding extra time onto their deliveries."
Tracey said the shop had only been open a year and was a labour of love by the owners. She said it was sad to see business drop off as it had.
She said: "It's been a bit upsetting because I know they ploughed a lot of money into this business in the hope it's going to succeed and this has come at the wrong time. We're trying to establish ourselves so that people know we're here again because it used to be a shop that closed a couple of years ago."
Jillie Dean-Stross owns family-run pub The Station Hotel, located in Station Road just off High Street. She said she feels as though her business has been "completely cut off" because of the work and is down thousands of pounds compared to winter 2020 during lockdown.
She said: "The people who would drive up where they've cut off the bridge might have driven through and popped into the pub. People parked here to go for a walk on the Taff Trail and would pop into the pub afterwards and now there's nowhere for them to park. I had to persuade them to give us three slots but it's at the bottom of the hill so it's no good for me because I've got to walk with crutches. If I have to walk up the hill and I have shopping how do I do it?
"I was doing the figures recently and bearing in mind we were a lot earlier in lockdown [in 2020] even on [2020's] takings we were down £2,000 and that was without the week that we weren't trading. In November [2021] I barely took anything. I must be about £4,000 down. It's worse for us than when we were in lockdownr. We were getting money from the government then to lock us down. We have no support coming in now."
And what's more for Jillie is the impact the major work might have on the local environment. She said: "I moved out of London because I didn't want to live on a main road. I got away from the noise of London and came to this village to give my children a better quality of life.
"Wales is unique with all its greenery and when I came here I couldn't believe its beauty. It used to be beautiful around here and now they have chopped down all the trees. When you looked out of any window here you could see a beautiful green landscape – it was absolutely amazing. They've made it look like London."
Someone who knows all too well about the changing landscape of Cefn Coed is John Watkeys whose home is overshadowed by a giant pile-boring machine.
The 71-year-old's current property was built in the garden of his childhood home when it was knocked down to make way for the original A465 carriageway.
When we knocked on his door we could hardly hear him over the sound of the drills which stand just a few yards from his home at the top of High Street. We asked if the noise gets any louder and he replied: "Yes, good God it does – this is quiet."
Next he points at a fence which has been erected through his back garden to provide a barrier between his home and the work. There is a sycamore tree and an oak tree on the A465 side of the fence.
"Those trees were actually in my garden," he said. "I want it back but it depends on the rock formation and how much they need. I am hoping to get it back but I don't know if that's going to happen."
But despite the constant roaring and disruption to his garden John said its impact isn't worse than he expected because of his vivid memory of the original road being built.
He said: "I was living in this area when they did the AA65 originally and because of that I expected it to be bad – it's no worse than I expected it to be. There are other people in this village who don't remember those original works who are more shocked by what's happening. They knocked my original house down to do the A465 and we were lucky enough to have enough garden to build this house in the garden.
"It is hard – it's extremely bad when the drilling is going on exactly outside the back of the house. When they are down towards the garage side it's not actually that bad. They normally start at 8.30am and knock off about 6pm. They started drilling on October 28 and we have absolutely no idea how long it's going to go on for.
"To some effect it does affect us but you just get on with it and to a certain extent it's not more than what I expected. When they originally made the road it was blasted through. I consider myself lucky that it's being done as the first part of it because at the moment I can't use the garden."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “This is a challenging project and we appreciate it will cause some difficulties for local people and businesses during the construction phase. However the scheme will deliver significant long-term benefits such as improving traffic flow, reducing journey times, enhancing road safety, and improving resilience.”
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