SURVIVING WITHOUT THE ROYAL WELSH
Town counting cost as Covid-19 pandemic forces cancellation
THE pretty market town Builth Wells should be overdrive. At this time of year everyone is readying themselves for perhaps one of the biggest, and arguably the greatest, agricultural events in Europe.
Builth is the home of the Royal Welsh Show and by now, preparations to welcome the quarter of a million competitors and spectators to the tiny town in Mid Wales should be well under way.
The first marquees would be springing up on the showground at Llanelwedd and barriers would be snaking their way around the 71-hectare site.
Across Wales, farmers would normally be desperately trying to plan their harvest to make sure they have at least one day free that week to make the annual pilgrimage to Powys.
But not this year. The gates are locked with a rusted chain and padlock, the buildings are grey and silent and the only movement is from the lone groundsman doing the odd job.
Like the rest of the country, Builth Wells is in lockdown, and the show is just another victim to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s the fifth time the show has been called off, having been cancelled during both world wars, the 1947 fuel crisis and the 2001 foot and mouth crisis.
The showground isn’t empty though. Two soldiers stand behind a long white trestle table, silently guarding one of the entrances.
Every so often they spring forward to meet an incoming car and point them in the direction of a small tent further into the ground. This summer the showground is a battleground in the fight against Covid-19, used as an NHS testing centre.
High up on the hill behind, overlooking the site, is Penmaenau Farm. In the hazy June sunshine, hundreds of in of sheep graze the land immediately next to the showground.
Gwyn Davies and his family have farmed the land for 60 years, but since taking it on from his grandfather, Mr Davies and his brother Gareth have diversified. The Royal Welsh Show is the linchpin.
Mr Davies runs the family sheep and beef farm purposefully around the show and everything he does throughout the year is dictated by just those four days in July. Penmaenau Farm is contracted by the show organisers to get their sheep off the land by the end of June so the workers can move in and set up.
It’s about that time that Mr Davies and his team kick into action too – together with his brother Gwyn, they have turned Penmaenau into a “venue farm”.
During show week, he will welcome 5,000 campers onto his land and sets up perhaps one of the most famous party venues verted sheep sheds.
The show night parties at Penmaenau Farm are almost a rite of passage for all young farmers across Wales, although most will probably only have hazy memories of those long drunken summer nights.
Last year, Example played a set on the purpose-built stage in the metalroofed barns and Mr Davies works hard to attract some of the country’s top DJs to entertain the crowds of mostly under-35s.
“A lot of people don’t understand how big the show is,” Mr Davies said, standing inside one of the party sheds. Together with his campsite, the Young People’s Village and the official show camping, there are some 15,000 pitches booked out across the four days.
The loss is a huge blow, says Mr Davies, who is also just about to begin a second term as the mayor for Builth Town Council.
“I wouldn’t like to put an exact number on it, but we’re talking about financial losses of millions to the immediate area,” he said.
Overall, the show contributes more than £40m a year to the Welsh economy. For Mr Davies personally, those losses could reach into six figures, although he hasn’t done the sums yet.
“We’ve taken an easier stride this year, because we haven’t had to be off the ground,” Mr Davies said. “Usually now we’d have around 10 staff coming in every day getting this place ready but that’s all been mothballed.
“A huge pressure has been lifted in terms of workload but that comes with the financial pressure because we haven’t got any income.”
But while he is enjoying the quieter summer, he misses the buzz he gets from show week and the build-up leading into it.
“It’s more like an agricultural show with a festival tinge these days,” he in the concontinued. “I have definitely noticed it changing over the years. But that’s society changing as a whole, not just the show. There’s a fine balance between having a good time and not overdoing it.
“Getting it to work is the trick. In the old days the show used to shut at 6pm and people would head into the town. But now the bars stay open until 10pm so people don’t spill into Builth until gone 11 so that’s very much altered things.”
Not everyone in Builth benefits from the show though.
Mr Davies said: “The show brings quite a lot of money to businesses in Builth, the pubs and takeaways primarily, and the bed and breakfasts are full during show week.
“But they’ll be equally as full on the smaller events that happen on the showground throughout the rest of the year.
“If you take away the pubs and the takeaways, the main shops on the high street don’t do very well in show week.
“Parking is a nightmare and a lot of the shops just close for the week. They do far better when the dog show is on or perhaps the Winter Fair later on in the year.”
For Mr Davies, the Royal Welsh Show has spawned several other businesses including a mobile bar business and an events company. At the peak of summer, he employs 130 staff. So far this summer, he has lost 70 weddings.
Every year, hundreds of bikers descend on Penmaenau Farm for their annual event in the Powys countryside. He hopes he at least gets to hold this in the late summer.
“It would be nice to have at least one event this year, and get a piece of the cherry,” he said.
“At the moment, I will have to borrow money to carry us over to next year. We have already shelled out for things like insurance and up-front costs so we’ve lost that money. They don’t give that back to you.
“Certainly without the show this year the town will see a huge downfall, but we do a couple of bike rallies which bring in around 1,500 bikers. That injection into the smaller shops is probably as good as any other event. The bikers are normally a good bunch and they spend pretty well.”
Alongside the farm, Mr Davies runs the Fountain pub in town with his wife. It has been closed since March 23. Sitting in the cellar is around £4,000 of outdated stock. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with it.
“The breweries don’t collect full barrels and Welsh Water won’t let you pour it down the drain,” he said.
He is worried about reopening in July too, unsure of the practicalities of how it will work and worried about a second peak.
While Builth Wells might be known as the home of the Royal Welsh, it wasn’t always so.
The first Royal Welsh was held in Aberystwyth in 1904. For 57 years, the show moved around the country,