A NEWPORT pupil has been crowned as winner of the first Newport Monopoly championships.

Eleven-year-old, Bethan Cozens from Caerleon Comprehensive School won the competition which was held in Newport Market today - which is the site of one of the squares on the new board.

Following the launch of the Newport Edition Monopoly board, earlier this month, pupils from Caerleon Comprehensive School, St Julian’s School and Coleg Gwent were amongst the ten contenders who played the city's version of the board game in hope of winning £200 worth of goodies, a signed board by Mr Monopoly and five activity day passes at the Celtic Manor Resort.

Newport Monopoly champion Bethan won by accumulating £4,436 worth of monopoly money. She said: “It went really well, it was quite tricky because at one point we all had a really similar amount of money, but I am really happy that I won.”

The first round saw groups of three and four battle it out to win a place in the final stage. Along with Bethan, Megan Farfarakis, 11, Ieuan Richards aged 11 both from Caerleon Comprehensive and Richard Charles aged 16 from Coleg Gwent, gained the most Monopoly money within their teams and then went forward to the final round.

Lourdes Louth, James Tennant and Aaradhya Deotale all aged 11, from Caerleon Comprehensive School, Lewis Everett, 13 from St Julian’s, Connor Louth, 13 from Caerleon Comprehensive School and Andrew Bowen, 52 from Newport were the other competitors who were successful in gaining a place at the championships.

Mayor of Newport Councillor Matthew Evans also attended the event, he said: “It’s good to see that people are still continuing to play the game, which shows the longevity and popularity of monopoly.

“The response to the Newport board has been absolutely incredible and is selling really well in stores. It’s fantastic for the city and the community.”

Graham Barnes organised the event he said: “Bethan won quite impressively a very worthy winner, but I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in the day.

The board has been very successful and we are already onto our second batch of printing.”

Local landmarks on Newport Monopoly include the Transporter Bridge, Celtic Manor, Tredegar House and the South Wales Argus.