Villagers plan to save pub by buying it
VILLAGERS fighting to keep their local pub now hope to raise enough money to buy it.
A public meeting was held at Garndolbenmaen after locals feared the The Cross Foxes Inn pub’s closure and an increase in second homes could lead to the village school’s closure, too.
Mum-of-three Caroll Ann Morris, 52, and community group Friends of Garn organised the meeting to halt the village’s decline.
They now say they would like to buy the pub and breathe new life into the village which is six miles from Porthmadog, Gwynedd. Caroll, of Bro Gwgan, said: “We lost our village shop over two-and-a-half years ago and our post office.
“With the help of our MP Liz Saville Roberts, we have been able to secure a weekly visit from a mobile post office, which has a lot of use. The Cross Foxes Inn closed its doors on April 1 due to the licensees’ retirement.
“It has been up for sale for a few years.”
The pub has not yet been put on the market and the locals don’t yet know how much money they need to raise.
Caroll said: “The meeting was very successful. We have decided to further investigate if there are any grants available. We would like to buy the Cross Foxes and introduce a shop as part of the premises.”
Other ideas include an internet cafe, a games room and a place for older teenagers to meet and socialise like at Y Pengwern community pub in Llan Ffestiniog.
Caroll has petitioned the National Assembly to make Acquired Community Assets (ACV) law in Wales so that the pub can’t be changed into anything other than for community use.
She said: “ACV is law in England and has saved a large amount of communities from losing their last community value. It needs to be law in Wales in order to save communities and villages like ours becoming like Llanbedrog and Abersoch where there are very few year round residents.
“When a village such as ours loses its shop and then its pub, then decline is inevitable. People don’t always go to pubs to drink: they go to socialise and meet new people. We all need to look after the future of our rural villages for the sake of future generations to come.”
Resident Mervyn Simms said: “I would really like the pub to reopen. We lost our shop two years ago. There would be sup- port for the pub if it was run properly.”
Prydwen Ireland, also a villager, said: “We want to stop any change of use. If we get grants and the money together it will be somewhere for the local people to socialise. We have been able to renovate the village hall and there’s no reason why we can’t do the same with the pub.”
Miss Morris is Plaid Cymru election candidate for the Dolbenmaen ward.
Present councillor, Liberal Democrat Stephen Churchman, said: “The pub’s closure is a sad loss for the village.”
The pub’s owners were not available to comment.