Thomas Pugh was born circa 1849 in Merthyr Tydfil which, in the 19th century, was an important coal mining, metal smelting and tinplate manufacturing centre.

He came to Llanelli to take up the position of foreman in the five mill South Wales Tinplate Works that had been opened in 1872 by Edmund Morewood,  a metal merchant and industrialist from Birmingham, and his nephew John Henry Rogers. The South Wales Works was the first tinplate works to be established at Machynys.

The period 1872 to 1890 was a period of great expansion in Llanelli and three new works were erected and existing works were extended. However, production fluctuated between boom and depression although the tinplate trade, in general, expanded.

Also during this time 13 new mills were built at Llanelli, bringing the total to 33. Four of the new mills were added to the South Wales Works which made it a 9 mills works, one of the largest in the industry.

Petroleum production rose sharply during this period and both South Wales Tinplate Works and Old Castle Tinplate Works concentrated their tin production entirely on ‘oil sizes’.

Thomas Pugh, like many other men, came to Llanelli with his wife during the boom years, probably around 1879/80, and at first they settled in Catherine Street East. They had six sons and two daughters:

William (apprenticed carpenter to a Cabinet Maker c 1887);

Richard (known as Dick died c. 1945 aged 56);

Thomas; Benjamin;

John E;

David Sidney (known as Sid);

Sarah; Annie.

One of the sons William, was apprenticed to Rees Richards, a Cabinet Maker and Undertaker, of Station Road. It appears that it was common practice for cabinet makers to also perform the duty ofUndertaker, as it was considered to be ‘an allied trade’. The cabinet maker would go to the deceased’s house, measure the body, prepare the wooden casket, and then take the body to its final resting place.

William Pugh’s apprenticeship started in 1887 when he was 14 years old, and a document of Indenture in the possession of his great grandson, William Pugh, clearly shows that times were harsh and the conditions of apprenticeship very strict.

During 1891 the tinplate industry went into decline when President McKinley imposed a tax, known as the ‘McKinley Tariff’, on all Welsh Tinplate exports, as the Americans tried to safeguard their own market. As a result the tinplate industry went into another, but more serious depression. Although the South Wales Works and the Old Castle Works diversified their range of products, their main product remained tinplate.

Around 1893 Thomas Pugh decided to form a company for his apprenticed son, William. The reason he made this decision is not known, it may be that he realised the employment situation in the once thriving metal industries, was on the verge of a serious crisis. Another reason may have been that Thomas was concerned his sons should not have to work in the hazardous mining and metal industries of the time. The end result was that he established Pugh & Son Cabinet Makers & Undertakers, which traded from their first premises in Station Road, next door to A. & R. Wehrle, Pawnbroker.

An advertisement that appeared in the Llanelli Guardian in 1893-94 promoting Pugh & Son, and A Llanelly Directory and Local Guide which was published by the owners of the South Wales Press, in 1897, showed that the company of Pugh & Son, Cabinet Makers and Undertakers, was operating from Station Road.

By this time Richard Thomas & Company had moved into the area and was buying up Works as they ran into financial difficulties. By 1898 the South Wales Works had also failed and a package which included the Foundry and Works, was purchased by Richard Thomas & Company, who also bought the Burry Works. With the acquisition of the South Wales and the Burry Works, Richard Thomas & Company had acquired 19 out of the 60 tinplate mills in Llanelli.

Thomas Pugh continued to work in a supervisory capacity for the South Wales Works, and at the same time he supported the business he had formed.

According to one source, Thomas Pugh’s wife, who had a talent for carving wooden figures, was determined that her boys should not have to work in the dangerous local industries. Apparently Mrs Pugh used her artistic talents and by selling her carved figures, was able to bring her sons into the business, one by one.

By 1903 William Pugh’s brothers had joined him in the business and the Company became known as Pugh Bros.

Later, probably around 1905, the Company moved to larger premises in Cowell Street, when the business occupied numbers 17 and 19. The Company also had a large warehouse and factory at Princess Street and in October of 1920, a massive fire devastated the building, However, the business quickly recovered and was rebuilt to its former glory.

One of the brothers, Benjamin, did not enjoy good health but appears to have been an active partner in the business, and there is a humorous anecdote told by one of his great nephews, worth relating. In the early days, probably around 1904, a hand cart was sometimes used to deliver items to the customer’s home. A customer from Loughor had ordered a large wardrobe and it fell to Ben to deliver it. The story goes, that Ben struggled all the way to Loughor, along roads that were not very well constructed, with the large wardrobe tied to the handcart, only to find that when he reached his destination, the customer had gone out, leaving a note pinned to the front door, ‘Had to go out please can you deliver tomorrow’. What happened to the wardrobe and the customer is not known, but Ben was forced to retire in 1930 due to ill-health.

In January 1940 Thomas Pugh died at the age of 91 and an article covering his funeral in the Guardian newspaper describes how ‘despite his advanced age, Mr Thomas Pugh of Fernholme, Queen Victoria Road, had enjoyed such exceptionally good health that the news of his passing caused a big shock’.

Richard Pugh died at the age of 56 in 1945, five years after his father had died.

During the Second World War years, the Ministry of Defence took over many local buildings, and the Warehouse and Factory at Princess Street, belonging to the Pugh Brothers, was no exception. The building was commandeered and the machinery was stored away until the war ended. After the War when soldiers returned home, the Company continued to go from strength to strength, and to accommodate the expanding business, the third floor was added to numbers 17, 19, and 21 Cowell Street.

By the beginning of the 1950s the Warehouse had been given back to the Pugh Brothers, but unfortunately, not long afterwards, a fire which destroyed all their machinery was to prove a major set back. As a result of the destructive fire, the company decided to discontinue making their own furniture, and joined the trend to ‘buy in’ ready made furniture from outside manufacturers. The days of individual cabinet maker were numbered and their craft was to become a thing of the past but Pugh's company moved forward to keep pace with the trends of the day.

Discussions took place between the brothers, as to the future trading plan for the company, and a plan to open satellite shops in the surrounding towns was mooted but eventually discounted. The forward plan was to establish a major House Furnishing store in the town of Llanelli that would rival any store in the larger towns of Swansea, Carmarthen and Cardiff.

During the boom years after the Second World War many local family businesses closed as National companies moved into the town. However, Pugh Brothers, the House Furnishing Store remained in Llanelli, and expanded to become the largest and most fashionable in West Wales, and a focal point, for visitors and customers, from Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire.

Around 1957, the Company purchased the Guardian Printing Press building which had occupied the ground floor of 23 Cowell Street.

As the business flourished, the Cowell Street premises were extended, and the second floor above Evan Jones, the Chemist of Number 15 Cowell Street, was occupied to house the ‘Pram Department’. Customers, even to this day, remember the ‘Pram Department’ and relate how they purchased their first pram or doll’s house from the Store.

In the early years of the 21st century Pugh Brothers continued to operate from the Cowell Street premises with two of the descendants of Thomas Pugh, namely his great grandsons Michael Pugh and William John Pugh as Directors. A walk around the store, which no longer occupies, the second floor above Evans Jones, Chemist, of 15 Cowell Street, feels like the clock has been turned back in time, and the grand staircases conjure up pictures of the days when ladies wore crinolines and men wore top hats. The Pugh Brothers’ store remained as a reminder of the grand days when Llanelli was a booming town.

2004

On Thursday 23rd September 2004 the Llanelli Star reported that after 100 years of shopping history the family store of Pugh Brothers, which had been a favourite with Llanelli shoppers, was to close. 

When the store shut its doors in 2004 two of the descendants of Thomas Pugh, Michael Pugh and William John Pugh, were the directors.

A planning application was registered in October 2004 detailing a conversion of the existing retail premises to a restaurant with residential appartments to the upper floors at 17-23 Cowell Street, formerly Pugh Brothers.