North Wales pub crowned Community Support Hero of the Year

Yr Owain Glyndwr, Llandonna, in Beaumaris, North Wales, has won an influential award at the PubAid Community Pub Hero awards 2024.

Owner, Mark Williams, was at the ceremony in the Houses of Commons to accept the award for being the best Community Support Hero pub in Wales. The award celebrates the work that the pub does to support the community and the judges were looking for a pub that acts as a ‘good neighbour’ for the people locally.

The pub saw competition from over 1,000 entries nationwide for the prestigious pub industry awards, now in their fifth year.

On winning the award, Mark Williams said: “I am chuffed for myself and my wife Tammy, who bought the pub. We work full-time so this is a part-time job for us. It means a lot to us, the staff and the community. It’s important that pubs are used by the community and tourists. There are 18 pubs a week that close. They’re vital for the mental health and well-being of those who use them. So please use them or lose them!”

“We’ve got really good staff and it means a lot to us, them and the community who use the pub and help to keep it open. It’s really amazing to be able to come to the Houses of Parliament. It’s been a brilliant two days, just fantastic and winning is the icing on the cake.

“It’s important that pubs are used by local communities and tourists. There are 18 pubs a week that sadly have to close and that’s 233 last year and pubs are vital for communities to get together to help support the mental health and wellbeing of everyone. So please use them or lose them. ”

The pub won because the new owners revived the previously run down pub. Since purchasing Yr Owain Glyndwr two years ago, Mark and Tammie have held a number of events to bring the community together and raise money for local charities including the local church and cancer ward. The community is the heart of this pub. The staff team check in on regulars if they are unwell and take them food.

Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, added, “The annual event is always very special for us and all the pubs who made it through to the finals. It is wonderful to hear so many stories of Publicans who do so much for their local communities and it’s heart-warming that pubs raise so much money for local and national charities and their regular customers are so generous when the cost of living makes things tough for many people.

“All 1,000 nominations we received are worthy of a congratulations but a special mention needs to be for those who made it through to the finals. The standard or entry this year has been so high that it gave our expert judges some difficult decisions.”

PubAid, which organises the awards in association with Matthew Clark and the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, refreshed the awards and created more categories to congratulate more community pubs throughout the UK. There were 33 finalists in total across five categories.

Charlie’s Bar in Ireland, Greenhills in Scotland and The Clifton Arms in England won the Community Support Hero award for their regions respectively.