Want to run a pub? Historic Victorian building could still be saved if a new owner is found
A Cardiff Councillor has said that a historic Victorian pub in Cardiff earmarked for demolition and replacement by flats could still be saved if a buyer who wants to run it as a pub is found.
Labour Councillor for Plasnewydd Pete Wong said that he had engaged in “positive discussions with the owners of the Roath Park Pub” and “negotiated an opportunity to return it back into use as a pub”.
He has put a call out for anyone interested in taking over the running of the pub, asking whether “anyone would be able to help us restore it to its rightful place in our community?”
Last week Cardiff council received heavy criticism after approving plans to demolish the Victorian pub on City Road in Roath, which was built in 1886 and closed in 2020.
Council leader Huw Thomas also weighed in, saying that he was as “disappointed” as anyone but as the building wasn’t a listed building there were no grounds under the present planning laws to stop it from being replaced.
“Let’s be clear, because Cadw didn’t list the building, the Council has no grounds to stop demolition,” he said.
Cllr Peter Wong told the Cardiffian that he had attended a meeting alongside Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens and fellow Plasnewydd Councillor Dan De’Ath to discuss the future of the building.
“We put it to [the owner] that if we could identify people who were interested in taking it on as a going concern as a pub, would he be ok with that and he said he was. So we were obviously very pleased with that potential outcome,” he said.
“For anyone who wants to look at it as a going concern as a pub, negotiation would be between those two parties. But at least we have an opportunity here to restore the Roath Park to its rightful place as a pub in the heart of the Roath community.”
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Could a consortium of people get together in that lovely community area and run not as a pub, but as a local business unit, similar to that in, what was the old Corporation Pub in Canton?
They do all over Wales, and plenty of money in Cardiff
How many pubs are there nearby? Is this one necessary? There’s no point in some hopeful amateur sinking savings and energy if other pubs are covering the available customers. With so many genuine community needs it could be made a community centre and run as a not-profit concern, perhaps a cooperative? Since it’s licensed for catering perhaps a dropin safe and advice/ support centre with nonprofit laundrette.
There’s a reason why this pub went out of business and why the Poets’ Corner was demolished. That road now mainly caters for the religious requirements of a new culture. They don’t drink alcohol.