Home » Carmarthenshire community group plans to transform village hall into cafe and events space

Carmarthenshire community group plans to transform village hall into cafe and events space

How an extended and upgraded Salem Memorial Hall, Salem, north of Llandeilo, could look (Pic: Salem Gar)

A COMMUNITY group which tried to acquire its village pub in Carmarthenshire is hoping to develop a cafe and events space at another building nearby.

Salem Gar had wanted to take over the privately-owned Angel Inn, Salem, north of Llandeilo and run it as a community venture but a planning application to convert the pub into two homes was approved by the county council last April.

Salem Gar has turned its attention to Salem Memorial Hall, which it wants to expand in partnership with the building’s owners – a charity called Heol-Galed Memorial Hall and Institute.

Salem Memorial Hall, Salem, north of Llandeilo (Pic: Salem Gar)

The new project has secured £10,000 of Welsh Government funding. People have been consulted about what sort of services they’d like there, and the results were shared last weekend.

Salem Gar volunteer Caroline Welch said the main things residents wanted were a licensed cafe serving lunch and evening meals, an atmospheric space for events and parties, a community garden and children’s play area, and the whole site being run on renewable energy.

“People tell us the life went out of the village when the pub closed,” she said. “There’s no school, no shop, no playground for the children – nowhere for generations to mix informally, nowhere for community clubs and groups to have a drink.

“So when we finally lost that fight, we knew we had to do something. Switching our focus to the village hall seemed like the natural way forward.”

Aerial photo of Salem Memorial Hall, Salem, north of Llandeilo (Pic: Salem Gar)

Salem Gar said around £28,000 had been pledged by the community to help buy The Angel Inn and that most people who’d made a pledge were happy to re-direct it towards the memorial hall project, which is called Dyfodol Salem.

Another volunteer, Aled Williams, said the new campaign had brought the community together, and that a recent four-day power cut made everyone realise how important an improved and extended community building could be. “A small shop could have provided essentials like batteries and kindling and fresh milk,” he said. “If we build sustainably and run the site off-grid, we could be making sure residents are warm, have a hot drink or meal, are able to wash, to charge their devices, to contact family in an emergency.”

The £10,000 Perthyn grant from the Welsh Government is for community groups in Welsh-speaking areas to help set up social enterprises or community-led housing schemes. Salem Memorial Hall chairman Peter Harries described the grant as a “huge vote of confidence” in the project. He said: “Our language is central to who we are – it’s our history and our heritage but we also want to see it grow here, for our future.”

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Work will continue on proposals for the hall, which hosts short mat bowls and women’s institute meetings among other things. A Burns night event featuring live music attracted more than 100 people last Saturday. It’s expected that a planning application would be submitted in due course to the county council.

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