A few years ago, the Radnor Arms, a nearly 200-year-old pub in a village in Wales, fell into disrepair: water oozed down the walls, ivy spread through the broken windows and rat skeletons littered the floor.
Today, the establishment is reborn and laughter resonates again within its walls, thanks to the determination of a few residents who managed to raise the necessary funds to save it.
Opened in the 1830s in New Radnor, a picturesque village in south Wales, it closed its doors in 2016 due to lack of profitability. A fate shared by tens of thousands of pubs in the United Kingdom, under the effect of rising operating costs and falling alcohol consumption.
More than a quarter of the 60,800 establishments listed in 2000 have closed down over the last 25 years. And the trend continues: 378 pubs – more than one per day – are expected to close their doors this year, out of the 45,000 still in operation at the end of 2024, according to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), their main union.
“Heart of the village”
At one time, the 438 residents of New Radnor could choose between six establishments to meet up for a drink. The closure of the Radnor Arms in 2016 deprived them of their last gathering place. “It was the heart of the village,” recalls David Pyle, a retired psychiatrist who had lived next door to the pub for 18 years.
“Sometimes you’d hear a bit of commotion, sometimes a roar when Wales scored, or a male choir singing… It was great. And then it closed.”
“It was a place where anyone could enter. We’ve had births, deaths and marriages here,” says Sue Norton, a retiree who became president of the pub’s conservation collective.
Call for a government fund
To give it a second life, she and her collective called on the “community property fund”, a government program to help buy out threatened pubs or businesses.
A fundraiser organized last year raised 200,000 pounds (around 215,000 €), a sum doubled thanks to the government aid program, supplemented by another grant of 40,000 pounds.
With the equivalent of 472,000 € in their pockets, the villagers were able to buy, renovate and reopen the pub, calling on volunteers to work behind the bar.
Among them, Eugene Marchenko, a 44-year-old Ukrainian refugee, hosted by a villager with his wife and son. This lawyer from Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, says his new activity has allowed him to meet almost everyone in the village.
“Sharing place”
“I had read in books that the pub is a famous British tradition, but now I am living it. It’s not just drinking alcohol, it’s a place where we share, where everyone knows each other,” he says.
Created in 2021 under Boris Johnson, the community ownership fund helped save 55 pubs across the country, according to Plunkett UK, an association which supports business projects in rural areas.
But the program was closed in December by the Labor government, which came to power in 2024, which cited financial difficulties “legacy” from the Conservatives.
File submitted on time
Although relieved to have been able to file on time, New Radnor residents regret that others will not be so lucky.
Even if for now, they are enjoying their victory. Because far from being just a pub, the Radnor Arms aims to host a variety of activities, from mornings for mothers and their babies to support sessions for people with Alzheimer’s and those who support them.
