A pub that reopened its doors in 2021 after being derelict for 23 years has shut once again. The Morlais Castle Inn in Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tydfil, had previously been left untouched and was falling into disrepair.
That was until Dayle Evans opened the pub in June 2021 to create a venue that offered live music and traditional Welsh food as well as hosting community outreach projects. Despite the pub being so popular at first that it was fully booked weeks in advance, Dayle has now confirmed it permanently shut on Saturday, September 17.
He said a number of factors led to its closure including the final lockdown around Christmas 2021, the cost of living crisis and personal issues. The 42-year-old said: "The final lockdown really put the first nail in the coffin because up until then we were at full capacity every single day. We had to take bookings and were full weeks in advance. We even opened up on a Monday when we weren't supposed to - demand was huge.
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"During that final lockdown we noticed a real difference. We'd had a great summer but people didn't seem to come back. We went from being booked in advance to nobody turning up. Our demographic were people in their 30s to retirement age who had responsibilities - bill payers and mortgage payers. We weren't attracting the younger crowd."
Dayle said although he tried to make changes to the business to appeal to younger people, the cost became too high. He said: "Having to change the business to cater for a younger crowd was almost impossible. We tried to do a garden because that's what the market wanted.
"It required a lot of additional funds. If you speak to any pub, trying to get hold of some wood to build something in the garden was impossible. Builders and contractors were tripling their prices in some cases. We weren't in a position to extend because we didn't have grants due to use opening in Covid. All of our competitors had thousands of pounds and almost every pub around here has had a lovely timber garden and we didn't have any of that so we were at a massive disadvantage."
On top of that, Dayle said the cost of living crisis saw his stock and bills skyrocket. He said: "In terms of stock, beer went up recently. In Merthyr, the suggested price is now around £4 for a pint. People are staying away. Our electric bill quadrupled in the space of a month and we were trading less. Our bills went from £300 to more than £1,000.
"There was money to pay [the bills] but we couldn't trade and pay that every month. There was just no point in continuing as the money wasn't there to keep the business running. You are left with a scenario of either having staff and no beer or beer and no staff."
Dayle also works within the railway industry as a project operations manager, which got increasingly busy. He said that along with other personal issues accelerated the pub's closure.
"It was a snowball effect that very quickly got out of control," he said. "I was looking at projections for the year and it was either I had to close now or I was going to be in real financial trouble. Unfortunately I had to really bite the bullet and get out early."
Dayle said he felt "incredibly sad" that the venture didn't work out in the long run, especially as it was a dream he and his friends had since they were just 20. However, he said it had been touching to see how many people the pub brought together over the year it was open.
He said: "It has been encouraging to see a lot of the people who used to drink here years ago coming in and talking about all the different layouts of the pub and all of the different evenings they had there.
"There was one Saturday afternoon in particular when I was speaking to a guy who said he used to drink here with his friend, but that he hadn't seen him in 30 years because they moved away. Then he turned around and his friend bumped into him. They were in tears. They drank six pints and left arm in arm in tears. It was surreal like something from a film. Stories like that have come out of the woodworks which is nice."
Dayle said he hopes the building will not be closed for long before a new business takes it over. He thanked everyone who helped him to get it up and running. He said: "I would like to offer my thanks to everyone who helped, from the Orbit Business Centre who gave us two large grants to help with the renovation, the council who did whatever they could and the landlord. Just an outpouring of thanks and gratitude to everyone who cared."
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