Businessman claimed he wanted local pub to stay open – then he took over and shut it

REGULARS at the Corn Exchange were surprised when they saw the Facebook post backing their campaign to keep the pub open.

- Conor Gogarty reports

They could not remember ever seeing the author of the impassioned post - a local developer called Robert Evans - spend time at the much-loved boozer in the village of Gilwern, Monmouthshire, but his support was welcome all the same.

“I’ve been going to this pub and [it has served] my family for over 50 years,” wrote Mr Evans, 60, who runs a firm named Property Wealth Management.

“It was built as a pub and should remain a pub.” The Corn Exchange was under threat from a planning application to replace it with four flats and a house. But after a backlash from villagers, the proposal was withdrawn and the owner sold the building. There was fresh anguish for locals, though, when the new owner shut down and fenced off the pub quickly after purchase. His name? Robert Evans.

According to a leaked email, Mr Evans is preparing to submit an application to turn the site into “a single dwelling with off-road parking”.

Part of the existing car park is to be “incorporated into the rear garden” of a nearby cottage - also owned by Mr Evans - which could benefit by getting more parking space, his architect wrote in an email to Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park Authority.

The Corn Exchange dates back to the 1800s and has long enjoyed a reputation as an “attractive, comfortable and friendly pub”, in the words of the Campaign for Real Ale.

We spoke to locals who feel its loss would be devastating to the social fabric of the village, which has been slowly drained of meeting places in the years since its eight-pub heyday.

"There are only two other pubs left in the village and they are both more food places now," said 50-year-old Iain Swanson, who bought his first pint as a teenager at the Corn Exchange.

"It's pretty much where everyone went for a drink. It's where various societies would meet. For some people, it was their only social interaction."