Hollywood star Matthew Rhys paid a visit to a pub near Machynlleth after backing the campaign to save the historic establishment.
Glan yr Arfon pub in Pennal, just over the Powys border in southern Gwynedd, featured an Emmy-Award winning bartender on Saturday, July 5, as Matthew Rhys pulled a few pints during his visit.
In 2022, a campaign to save the pub aimed to bring the ownership of the Grade II building to the community and re-develop it after the former owners opted to sell the property.
The star of ‘The Americans’ and ‘Perry Mason’ lent his support to the campaign due to his strong family ties to the area.
OTHER NEWS:
- Newtown burglar jailed after he was caught out thanks to Ring doorbell footage
- Much-loved Powys teaching assistants who taught school headteacher bid farewell
- Powys man died from pneumonia, coroner rules
In December 2022, the pub reached its fundraising goal and officially re-opened in February.
Vice Chair of the Menter Y Glan management committee, Aled Rees, said: “When Matthew lent his support to the campaign, we saw a big publicity increase.
“He may have a high profile in America, but we used to see him pop up in Pennal every few years to visit whenever he was in the area. He’s one of us, and that provided a boost to the campaign.”
The village of Pennal played a key part in Welsh history when in the fifteenth century the then Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndwr, reached out for help to the King of France, Charles VI, for military aid during his rebelling against the English.
Mr Rees added: “Now that the pub’s up and running there’s a real sense of community. But it actually extends even further than our own area.
“We have plenty of visits from shareholders and a majority of investors in the pub are not local, which came as a great surprise. There’s an awful lot of people who feel some kind of connection to the pub, many with warm memories of it.
“As a small rural community, we can all appreciate how important an establishment like this is. You lose shops, chapels, pubs and schools, then eventually there’s nothing of the community left.
"We have achieved a lot since re-opening, but there’s still a lot to do. I think the pub has been run as well as it can be at the moment, but we are hoping to go further.
“The first step was to save the pub, then make it viable and then to build a structure for it to continue long into the future.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here