Community pubs and shops help bring new employment and trading opportunities

Community pubs and shops help bring new employment and trading opportunities.

Recent purchases of community pubs and shops have allowed the continued trading of well loved establishments as their ownership is transferred from a private to a cooperative model of operating.

The recent purchase by the community of the Havards Ironmunger's store is a great example of ensuring a well used shop in Newport, Pembrokeshire is kept trading with the support of the community. All the pubs and shops that have recently been bought by their community have to run as competitive profit making businesses but with the aim of allowing the community to be involved in how the future direction of the social businesses are focussed. There are now many examples in West Wales of community cooperative businesses that promote their social purpose.

The Tafarn Sinc pub in RoseBush pembrokeshire was bought in 2017, then the White Hart Pub in St Dogmaels become a community owned pub a few years ago, recently Tafarn y Vale in South Ceredigion ran a very successful community shares campaign to buy the pub for the community.

The 2 most recent projects are those of the community buying the Cross Inn, Hayscastle and Tafarn Crymych Arms pub, both in Pembrokeshire. All of the community cooperative pubs and shops are run by teams of dedicated volunteers wishing to keep local services and trading alive within their community and to offer jobs to local people through continued commercial trading . The volunteers at Tafarn Crymych Arms are now gearing up for reopening the pub which has been shut for 2 years. They are now seeking local suppliers for the restaurant and hoping to draw in staff to apply for the jobs on offer. They are now advertising for a 3 day a week Grants Manager at £33,000 pro rata and a full time pub manager at £32,000.

One of the supporters of community cooperatives in West Wales , Cris Tomos of community development charity PLANED explained, "It is important that communities have a chance to own and retain local buildings and businesses to then have a chance of expanding local produce ranges and offer competitive employment opportunities for local people. When looking at how to recruit and pitch for new staff the local cooperative pubs and shops have had discussions with other community enterprises and pups across Wales."

The deadline for the new Crymych Arms jobs is Saturday the 16th of September and full details are on the website www.cpdcrymych.cymru

Cris concluded,

"It's great to see so many community cooperative now being set up and ensuring that important community hubs such as local shops and pubs continue to play a part in community life. There is considerable support out there for community enterprises where local supporters can gain valuable information about the process of buying their assets. Those interested in community ownership projects can visit the PLANED website for more details".

13 Sep 2023