This article evaluates the contribution that analysis of local politics and urban elites in the small town can make to urban history in Wales. It is suggested that in the context of the small town, the personality and public persona of the individual, and a discourse emphasizing public service to the town, were as crucial as socio-occupational status in establishing the individual as someone suitable for a position of social leadership. Local politicians were ‘celebrities’ that nevertheless had to negotiate their reciprocal relationship with the electorate and townspeople, and detailed analysis demonstrates the contingency and complexity of local politics in the small town.