The day that Fern Evans had to hand back the keys of her Wrexham city centre bar and bistro she admits it felt like her heart was breaking. In 2014 the business, called Set The Bar, was the dominant feature of her life, with the doors opening just two weeks after her father passed away in October.
Determined to make the bar a success, Fern spent four years building up the business, including recognising a gap in the catering business in the city, with the vegan options offered on the menu becoming so popular that she phased meat out, and the business thrived.
But after working to excess to realise her dream of running her own premises, a dream held since she began working in hospitality at the age of 15, it came to an abrupt end. An unexpected and unaffordable substantial rise in the premise's rent meant that her business was no longer viable.
