There are few things more traditional in Wales than heading down to the local pub for a drink after a long week and catching up with friends, family and neighbours, to engage with those around you and to feel part of something very special - a community. That cosy and dare we say nostalgic pleasure is under threat in many places across Wales and further afield, however.
For many, their villages - once home to one or even several local boozers - are now just a through-road of houses, filled with residents sat behind closed doors, left with nowhere to socialise and often nobody to talk to. Across Wales and England, more than 32 pubs closed each and every month in 2022. Energy bills, staffing pressures, a lack of footfall as the erstwhile pub-goer tightens his or her belt....whatever the reason, there seems to be a crisis - among a sea of crises - enveloping the pub trade as we begin 2023.
In Crymych, a Pembrokeshire village some eight miles south of Cardigan, residents always had a pub, dating back to at least the mid-1800s. The Crymych Arms stood proudly at the north end of a village which sits quietly underneath the majestic hills of Preseli. But in September 2021, the pub pulled its final pint and shut out the pandemic-stricken world outside. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
