Newport, Wales, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Newport (Casnewydd) is both a city and a principal area in Wales, on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, Newport is the third-largest city in Wales. Newport became a unitary authority in 1996 and forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area.

Newport has been a port since medieval times when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream and now part of the borough. Newport gained its first charter in 1314. It grew significantly in the 19th century when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern South Wales Valleys. Newport was the largest coal exporter in Wales until the rise of Cardiff in the mid-1800s.

In the 20th century, the docks declined in importance, but Newport remained an important centre for manufacturing and engineering. Latterly its economy is bolstered as part of the M4 corridor high-technology cluster. It was granted city status in 2002. Newport hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010 and was the venue for the 2014 NATO summit. It contains extensive rural areas surrounding the built-up core. Its villages are of considerable archaeological importance. Newport Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of Monmouth.

Economy Newport's travel to work area incorporates much of south Monmouthshire; the new 2001-based area also includes Cwmbran. The city itself has three major centres for employment: the city centre, and business parks clustered around the M4 motorway junctions 24 in the east and 28 in the west.

Organisations based in the city include Airbus Defence and Space; the headquarters of the Office for National Statistics; the headquarters of the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (formerly known as the Patent Office); the General Insurance Division of Lloyds TSB; a large Panasonic manufacturing plant; a manufacturing plant for International Rectifier; the headquarters of insurance comparison site Gocompare; the headquarters of Wales and West Utilities; the shared-service centre for HM Prison Service; the Passport Office for much of the south and west of the UK; and the Wales headquarters of the Charity Commission and British Red Cross. In 2014 Admiral Insurance opened a large newly constructed office opposite Newport railway station.

In 1997, Newport secured what was then thought to be Europe's largest-ever inward investment when the LG Group announced a £1.7 billion project creating 6,100 jobs, and supported by public sector grants. Facilities were built on the Celtic Lakes business and science park, but market conditions led to the semiconductor plant never opening, and the CRT plant eventually closed in 2003. In 2005 Irish radiator manufacturer Quinn Group bought the former LG Phillips building, which became its European base. Industry in the east of Newport was formerly based at the Corus Llanwern steelworks, and although the rolling mill is still active, steel manufacture ceased in 2001. Permission has been granted to transform the 600-acre (240 ha) former steelworks site into a £1bn mixed-use development comprising housing, office and industrial space, public open space and a range of community facilities.

At the mouth of the River Usk, the Sims Metal Management plant hosts the world's largest industrial shredder for scrap metal with access by road, rail and sea. The plant, which is also the world's largest car crusher which was featured in the TV series 'How do they do it'.

Newport Cattle Market, in the Pillgwenlly area of the city, closed in 2009 and was demolished to make way for a new supermarket.

Regeneration The city has seen major regeneration projects being undertaken in recent years.