Friends loved meeting at pub... so they took it over

FORMER newsagents at the end of a row of shops might not be the first location that comes to mind when you think of the ideal village pub.

- ELLIE GOSLEY

But for a group of 11 men it became a space which was so valued that when the pub announced its permanent closure, they decided to take it over and buy it for themselves.

Just over two years ago, Mat James and his friends-turned-business partners were no more than strangers who lived in the same village.

He began to meet other men who would go to The Cokeworks in Beddau, Rhondda Cynon Taf, at the same time every week and a special bond between them formed.

Little did they know that just a few years later they would have renovated a pub - largely by themselves - and would be ready to open the doors of their business to the community for the first time.

Mat, a full-time learning disability nurse, first started going to The Cokeworks, which opened in the village’s old card shop in 2021, about two years ago.

There, the 45-year-old began to meet other men, all aged between 40 and 80, and eventually formed a group which became known as The Wednesday Club.

He said it became somewhat of a “lifeline” for those who needed it.