Publican Rhiannon Metters from The Halfway in Tal-y-Coed, Wales, visited 10 Downing Street this week talking with Prime Minister Kier Starmer to highlight the vital role that pubs play in supporting local communities.
The Halfway joined five other artisan food producers and creative retailers for a Christmas market-style showcase hosted by the Prime Minister ahead of Small Business Saturday. The event was celebrating small firms, frontline workers and community champions and included the annual Christmas lights switch-on.
Rhiannon, along with her son Ben, hosted a Christmas stall inside the Prime Minister’s residence showcasing the activities that the pub hosts to bring people together in this isolated rural community.
She chatted with him highlighting the important impact the pub has on community cohesion and helping local people to overcome loneliness and social isolation.
As the hub of this rural area, where many residents, including farmers, live and work alone, The Halfway provides essential opportunities for social interaction. With support from Pub is The Hub, the pub has opened a village store and a community marquee.
The village store has proved so popular that its range of products have been expanded to support more than 15 other local businesses that supply items such as flowers, butter and local chocolate – all from within 10 miles o f the pub.
The marquee has become a vibrant space for social connection, hosting creative workshops such as chunky knitting, lino printing, wreath-making, and even CPR and defibrillator training to ensure locals can use the pub’s life-saving equipment.
Rhiannon Metters said: “It has been a fantastic experience to attend this Small Business Showcase and highlight the important role that pubs have in bringing people together and creating human connections.
“From a pint by the fire to wreath-making in the marquee, from the village shop to live music and shared skills, everything we do is about bringing people together, tackling loneliness and social isolation, supporting local makers and giving our little corner of Monmouthshire a place to gather, laugh, learn and belong.”
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