Pencoed hostel was built at the start of WW2 to accommodate workers employed at the nearby Ordnance Factory at Bridgend (NPRN: 91719). Accommodation was in the form of grid of 40 concrete barracks with 1,000 beds. Hostel accommodation was also given to Polish (and possibly German) miners who had come to work in the coal mines in the area and the hostel is also believed to have been used as accommodation after the war for disabled persons working at the Remploy factory at Bridgend. The hostel was closed (under protest) in 1953 and thereafter demolished and replaced by a housing estate.

In 1945, the artist Joan Baker is thought to have produced a large public mural: 'The Pleasures of Peace', for the Assembly Hall at Pencoed hostel.

References:

Aerofilms photographs, dated 1947.
Ordnance Survey historic mapping dated 1951.

Hansard:
HC Deb 24 March 1953 vol 513 c64W
HC Deb 12 March 1953 vol 512 cc1480-1