A Pembrokeshire pub that was bought by the community will open its doors once more this week.

The Tafarn Crymych Arms closed in September 2021 when the current owners retired and put the pub up for sale.

Crymych Football Club has coordinated the community purchase of the historic pub in the heart of the village.

Volunteers raised more than £200,000 to buy the pub. They also secured a significant Community Ownership windfall from the UK Government. All this has been done in just under a year.

The keys to the pub were handed over on October 11 this year. Since then, the committee and volunteers have been working hard to fully refurbish the pipelines and equipment from the cellar and ensure that all is compliant with current regulations.

A dedicated team has helped with repainting, wiring, moving the furniture and pool table, and sorting all issues ready for reopening.

“It is hard to believe that it was just one year ago from now, on December 13 2022 that the first public meeting took place at the Crymych Market Hall to see if there was any interest within the community to take on the challenge of raising the funds and organising the process of purchasing and reopening the Tafarn Crymych Arms,” said Cris Tomos who has helped with the purchase process.

“The tremendous support over the following months soon demonstrated that people have missed having the traditional pub at the heart of the village.

“The commitment from investors both near and far has been fantastic. The committee were able to demonstrate to funders that there was genuine community support, and we drew down match funding grants from the Community Ownership Fund.”

The new premises licence for the Crymych Arms had taken 28 days to secure, but it was worth the wait to get full approval of what had been requested.

The community pub will open this evening, Monday, December 11, with the excellent staff led by new pub manager, Darren George. On Tuesday all shareholders are invited to attend.

Food will be served in the pub’s restaurant from December 12 onwards and a tasty three course Christmas dinner is on offer.

The official opening will take place on Thursday, December 14 at 7pm. The committee will cut the ribbon and officially welcome the whole community to the new site that is actually owned by them.

On the same evening there will be a Christmas Fair in the Market Hall in Crymych so vistors can call in to support the stall holders there as well as supporting the Crymych Arms.

“The committee wishes to thank all investors and volunteers for all the support,” said Chris. “If it was not for the kindness of others none of community development would have been possible.”