PEOPLE POWER SAVES IRON PUB
Residents unite to buy ‘remarkable place’ – and get star support
IN THE late 1940s the War Office wanted to take over a picturesque part of Pembrokeshire.
In the shadow of the Preseli Hills, the land was to be transformed into a training area for the Army.
There isn’t much here, they argued. No great agricultural heritage, they said. Just some land. Just some lambs.
The riposte was quick and to the point: “In this part of Wales, we don’t just raise lambs. We raise souls.”
The people rose up and made a stand. They stopped the plans in their tracks and made sure that the community of Rosebush would continue as it always has; with people at its core.
Seventy years on, that spirit and that appetite to not take things lying down reared its head once more.
Last year, an old pub was going to close down. It had stood in its spot, in all its tinned glory, for more than 140 years, ever since it first opened as a hotel in 1876.
As you drive to it, you keep thinking that you’re somewhere else entirely – not a mere 11 miles from the A40 which connects West Wales with London. It’s another world, with nothing around you but a serene landscape and its mountainous backdrop.
You mind the sheep on the side of the road, you pull into the car park, and there she is. The big red pub made of corrugated galvanised iron. Tafarn Sinc.
Its more recent story is this: For 25 years the pub was owned by the Llewelyn family. Brian and Brenda had bought the old place in 1992, for around £18,000, after it had fallen into disrepair and over the next quarter of a century it was run by their daughter, Hafwen, and her husband, Brian, who created something magical; a place known much further than the reaches of the Preseli hills.
But, as the old adage goes, all good things come to an end, and the family wanted to sell.
Tafarn Sinc was placed on the market with an asking price of £295,000.
“When we heard that the pub was being put up for sale, we didn’t worry at first,” said Hefin Wyn, an author who lives in the neighbouring village of Maenclochog. “We just thought someone would come forward and buy it. But, as time went on, nobody did.”
If they were to save it, they’d need to raise more than £300,000 to buy the pub and to have some capital to start running it as a business.
“It seemed impossible at the time, but we had to try, otherwise we would lose the pub for ever,” said Hefin.
You might find it odd that there was a shortage of potential buyers for such a popular place, with a loyal network of customers and the ability to attract people from every corner of the country. However, part of the pub’s idiosyncratic charm was also part of its downfall, as is explained by Cris Tomos, a Pembrokeshire councillor who played a key part in its saving.
“Nobody was able to put in a serious offer because Tafarn Sinc was built in the 19th century and is made of tin. In short, it’s ‘unmortgageable’,” he said.
“The business model was sound but people couldn’t possibly raise the money needed to buy it.”
At this point the panic set it. It was going to close and would eventually, it was feared, be gone forever.
Knocked down, maybe. Turned into a house, perhaps. Whatever it would become, an atmospheric hub it would be no more.
So, a group called Cymdeithas Tafarn Sinc was set up. They would try to raise enough money to buy the pub from the Llewelyns and run it themselves.
A meeting was called in July of last year at Maenclochog Community Hall to see if anyone was bothered. After all, pubs close every day in the UK and people accept it as the way of the world; the result of cheap supermarket booze and an ever-expanding myriad of options in home entertainment.
Preseli may be a different beast. More than 100 people packed the hall on a summer’s night and it was clear that something special could be achieved.
Within a month, more than £50,000 had been raised.
An amazing effort. Taking the lead on the project was the Pembrokeshire Local Action Network for Enterprise and Development (PLANED), a community-led organisation that works to improve the quality of life for communities.
One of its members was Cris Tomos, and he says that first meeting showed something was happening: “It was clear that there was a need to at least try to save the pub, but we were still some way off.”
The ownership scheme works like this. Shares were offered to anyone to buy at £200 each. In addition to being a co-owner of Tafarn Sinc, shareholders were offered returns of two per cent gross by means of an annual dividend.
In a further bid to raise money, a peer-to-peer scheme was launched where people were offered the chance to invest at least £5,000 over a minimum term of three years, which would yield an annual return of £4,000.
By the end of the summer the campaign, despite its remarkable efforts, was failing. Almost £130,000 had been raised by this point, but with a deadline of the end of October, things were looking bleak.
It needed something to push it over the Preselis, across borders and even seas (or, to put it bluntly, to get more money).
Then, in August, Hollywood actor Rhys Ifans posted a video online that went viral. Speaking in Welsh, he rallied the troops and spoke from the heart about what Tafarn Sinc – “this remarkable place” – meant to him.
“He let the world know that he was going to buy shares and that of course helped to spread the message,” said Hefin Wyn.
“He is close to this area and he would always come here with his family whenever he was back home, and it was a huge boost to have him on board.”
Word spread fast. All of a sudden, the campaign had shareholders from all over the world.
“People from Canada heard about Tafarn Sinc on a local radio station,” said Hefin. “They got in touch, bought shares, and came over to see us. When they arrived, they loved the place so much that they stayed for three weeks.”
Tafarn Sinc may be the archetypal local pub but was gaining a global reputation. A Texas man called Doug Hansen has been over. He came in and p put his stetson on the hook. He had already bought his stake in the pub and instructed his friends from a touring rugby social club to do the same.
“When I heard the pub was in danger of closing I immediately instructed my fellow members to invest and as we were on tour in Wales I had to make the effort to see what I had invested in,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to see a genuine country pub close. I was goddam impressed. It reminded me of Arkey-Blue’s back home, which is a real cowboy bar with cowboy music almost every night of the week. It’s the cowboy capital of the world and Arkey himself sings there on Saturday nights.”
By October this infectious enthusiasm for Tafarn Sinc had helped to raise more than £400,000.
The deal was done, and the pub went from having two owners to around 400, a bloke from down the road, a bloke from Texas and a Hollywood movie star among them.
It didn’t matter who bought the shares, the key thing is that they had been bought.
“It’s as true as a rattlesnake is a rattlesnake that Tafarn Sinc must be the only tin pub in the whole world that’s owned by shareholders – and I’m one of those!” said Doug, who has since returned to the USA.
Even now, months after the campaign’s dreams became a reality, Hefin Wyn still can’t believe it. He lives nearby, he’s a co-owner, he’s on the eight-strong committee that’s been set up to run the pub, and he mows the lawn.
“I’m still surprised that we managed it,” he admits.
“We work, and will continue to work, for the sake of the community. Our work is not done, it’s very much ongoing. Every shareholder has played their part and the eight of us on the committee all have different skill-sets and we bring them all together.
“If we were all the same then we wouldn’t get anything done!
“We all do our bit, and we’ve hired young staff, they’re all local and they’re all bilingual – that’s a must. If you can’t speak Welsh and keep the language alive then it’s another nail in the coffin. This part of the world is so Welsh and we have to keep it that way; it’s so important.
“It’s a part of this place’s character and part of what makes it so special. When people come here they walk around for a while because it’s so unique. You can see them looking around, and then they think ‘oh, I’d better buy a drink!’’” So, what’s it like there now? On a beautiful summer’s day, one man sits outside Tafarn Sinc quietly sipping his pint while his Jack Russell sits at his feet. The man is just sitting there, looking out over the garden, and the hills that form its backdrop. He hasn’t been here long.
“I came down here on holiday a couple of months ago,” said Mark Andrews, from Farnborough in Hampshire.
“I fell in love with the place, the whole area. I’ve now bought a holiday home within walking distance of this pub. It was only after I’d moved that I heard about how close we came to losing it.
“You don’t get many places like this any more. It’s a real local pub, but it attracts people from all over. The other night I was having a quiet pint and then a coach-party of 30 people walk through the door.
“It’s a special place in a beautiful location.”
A few years after the end of the Second World War the people of Preseli made a stand because they didn’t want something dear to them to die, to become only a loving memory that would merely be spoken of in generations to come.
They wanted to grant those generations with the opportunity to create their own memories.
More than 70 years on, when most things around us have changed, the passion of a community with a goal in its sights has not.
“Part of that energy was used in our battle to keep Tafarn Sinc open,” said Hefin Wyn.
“That spirit and that sense of independence has always been here and it’s still thriving today.”