On the opposite bank of the River Tawe is the village of Alltwen, part of the community of Cilybebyll, and is administered separately from Pontardawe.

Pontardawe came into existence as a small settlement on the north-western bank of the RiverTawe, where the drovers' road from Neath and Llandeilo crossed the river to go up the valley to Brecon.

[citation needed] Small engineering firms, motor maintenance, building supplies, and a health centre, are on the Alloy Industrial Estate.

On 1 October 1873, the SVR opened a branch from Ynysygeinon, near Ystalyfera, to Coelbren on the Neath and Brecon Railway, thereby connecting Pontardawe for the first time to the national rail network.

The Midland Railway took over operation of the SVR from 1 September 1874; and by 1877 there were three passenger trains a day calling at Pontardawe in each direction, conveying through carriages between Swansea and Brecon, Hereford, Malvern, Worcester and Birmingham.

[4] The best-known landmark is the tall spire of St Peter's Church which dominates the centre of the town from its site on a high point of the valley floor close to the Swansea Canal.

Edwards was also responsible for the design of Morriston, a new town developed by the Swansea Valley industrialist Sir John Morris.

[citation needed] The first phase of a new retail park on Ffordd Parc Ynysderw, close to Cwmtawe Community School, opened in July 2008.

The playing fields adjoining the Pontardawe Leisure Centre at Parc Ynysderw are one of the UK's 471 King George Fields established as a memorial to King George V. They were officially transferred to their present site in 2003 and occupy land which formerly belonged to the tinplate works but is now owned and maintained by the local authority.