Like many, the hospitality industry's struggling. Rural inns are faring the worst. Soon, the village pub will be a distant memory just like the village shop, post office and public telephone box.
The Griffin Inn at Llanbedr DC went on the market today. It's had a string of landlords including, for a short while, postmaster general Huw Hilditch Roberts. Owners Robinson's have now thrown in the towel. The pub's simply not viable. In terms of food, I have to say that I did not find the Griffin that special and I was put off by a disastrous pudding which the then landlord refused to acknowledge. It was at that point that it lost my vote and my custom. No amount of changes would ever see me back. There is (or was) nevertheless something in the Griffin's favour, however, and that's the fact that Llanbedr is something of a relatively wealthy village. Not even that could save it.
Why are rural pubs closing, though? Cheap booze from Tesco, no doubt. A general decline in patrons, of course, as we are less willing to eat and drink out than once we were—where once we favoured village gastro-pubs, our tastes have changed. Prices of pints, wines or food are crazy, these days. People round here have been used to tightening their belts and now will again save dining and drinking for special occasions only—like they once did. Rural pubs that have not refurbished will also fail to attract that key market sector, younger adults: millennials are less interested in pubs and they seem to find them unappealing.
I also reckon that people prefer to stay in, glued to Facebook, rather than get out and actually *talk* to real people. On the one hand, this is rather sad but on the other Facebook is simply a different form of community, one which, on the whole, reflects your own interests and friendships in a way that the diversity of a pub never can. Enter a pub and how many people do you really know. "Socialise" on Facebook and you are with a known and trusted community of acquaintances with whom you feel comfortable. It's almost like a tribe or a modern version of the old medieval market place where people would gossip and share information.
Other Closed or Threatened Rural Pubs
Why are rural pubs closing, though? Cheap booze from Tesco, no doubt. A general decline in patrons, of course, as we are less willing to eat and drink out than once we were—where once we favoured village gastro-pubs, our tastes have changed. Prices of pints, wines or food are crazy, these days. People round here have been used to tightening their belts and now will again save dining and drinking for special occasions only—like they once did. Rural pubs that have not refurbished will also fail to attract that key market sector, younger adults: millennials are less interested in pubs and they seem to find them unappealing.
I also reckon that people prefer to stay in, glued to Facebook, rather than get out and actually *talk* to real people. On the one hand, this is rather sad but on the other Facebook is simply a different form of community, one which, on the whole, reflects your own interests and friendships in a way that the diversity of a pub never can. Enter a pub and how many people do you really know. "Socialise" on Facebook and you are with a known and trusted community of acquaintances with whom you feel comfortable. It's almost like a tribe or a modern version of the old medieval market place where people would gossip and share information.
Other Closed or Threatened Rural Pubs
- The Plough at Llandegla closed in April 2016 and has now sold as a private dwelling. There remains the Crown, nearer the village centre.
- Clawddnewydd's Glan Llyn passed to community pub status in 2014 and has blossomed.
- The Three Pigeons, Graigfechan, is on the market.
- The Clwyd Gate closed this month. The Clwyd Gate which, like the Griffin, is in Llanbedr, only re-opened 18 months ago.
- We Three Loggerheads is up for sale.
- The Tŷ Mawr, Gwyddelwern, has had a rocky history. It re-opened in 2014 but was closed at Christmas 2015 and has yet to find a landlord. It had previously re-opened in 1999 for about eight years after which is was empty, as now.
- The suicide in October of the Revd Wayne Roberts forced the closure of the refurbished Nant y Felin, Llanrhaeadr. More on that soon, if the rumours of its re-opening turn out to be correct.