Funding pressures bring an end to retail and catering at popular visitor centres

Three popular visitor centres managed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) are set to lose their retail and catering provision in March 2025 in response to funding pressures.

Retail and catering provision at the Welsh environmental regulator’s three visitor centres will remain open until March 31, 2025, and will then close.

After closure, NRW will launch a public exercise to look for partners who may be interested in helping to run these services at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, Ynyslas and Coed y Brenin in the future.

All paths, trails, car park, play area and toilet facilities will remain open at the sites and they are holding public meetings to update communities on November 25, 26 and 27.

“Tight” funding situation

Elsie Grace, NRW’s Head of Sustainable Commercial Development, said: “We understand how important our sites are to local communities and visitors and we know the decision to stop providing catering and retail services is disappointing to many people.

“Our board made the decision in response to the extremely tight funding situation we and other public bodies face.

“We will look for partners, both community groups and businesses, to register an interest in providing these services moving forward and will provide more information on how to submit expressions of interest ahead of the launch of any tender exercise.

“In the meantime, all our paths, trails, car park, play area and toilet facilities will remain open and we will continue to maintain our sites to ensure public access continues.

“I would also like to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication at this time.

“We look forward to welcoming members of the public and stakeholders to our upcoming meetings so we can provide more information.”

Process

NRW is a public sector organisation and has strict procurement regulations and processes that must be followed.

To ensure fairness and parity, no proposals will be considered in advance of the start of any public tender and they will provide more details of this process, including the start date, in due course.

In due course, they will use the Sell2Wales website and those interested can register on the platform in advance of any process starting.

The public meetings will be held at:

Borth Community Hall, High Street, Borth, SY24 5LH, November 25 starting at 7pm.

Neuadd Penllwyn Capel Bangor, Aberystwyth, SY23 3LS, November 26 starting at 6.30pm.

Ganllwyd Village Hall, Llafar Y Lli, Ganllwyd, LL40 2TF, November 27 starting at 6.30pm.

No booking is necessary but please be aware venues may reach capacity.