Villagers rocked as landlord wins battle to turn last pub into shop

In a move reflected in communities across the country, the Fox and Hounds pub in Llanharry will be turned into a community shop, dashing the hopes of villagers who had campaigned to save it. Jonathon Hill reports

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A LANDLORD who last year lost a planning battle with residents to turn the village’s only pub into housing has now won permission to turn it into a shop, potentially scuppering hopes that the community could take it on.

Drew Donaldson, landlord at the Fox and Hounds pub in Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taf, obtained permission from councillors to turn the pub into a community shop at a planning committee meeting last Thursday.

Mr Donaldson closed the pub at the end of December 2023 and it’s not reopened since.

Residents have campaigned and banded together with a social media group calling for the pub to remain as one of the village's last surviving community assets.

It is understood some community members were looking at how they'd be able to bring the pub into community hands while some had visited a number of pubs across Wales owned by their communities in the hope Llanharry could own its only pub.

But not everyone in the village is displeased with the pub being potentially turned into a shop.

Llanharry councillor Barry Stephens told the committee he was fully behind Mr Donaldson’s plans in a speech which was critical of villagers for allegedly not supporting the Fox and Hounds or the local community club which Cllr Stephens has been helping to run for 14 years.

Some villagers have previously rubbished Mr Donaldson’s claims that he was never truly supported by the village which made the Fox and Hounds “unviable”.

They accused Mr Donaldson of wanting to turn the pub into housing accommodation for a long time, which he denies.