THE community-led venture to buy the iconic Tafarn Sinc in the Preseli heartland has reached another exciting phase.

The Pembrokeshire pub at Rosebush had faced closure but a fantastic response from both the local community and supporters around the world has seen its future secured.

A campaign meeting at Maenclochog hall was this week told that a staggering £325,800 had been raised to date to buy and run the pub.

In full anticipation of securing the property within a few weeks, Cymdeithas Tafarn Sinc has already advertised for a couple to run the pub and restaurant with live-in accommodation.

The ability to speak Welsh is described as being essential as well as experience of catering and running previous hostelries.

The appointed managers will also be expected to enhance the heritage and cultural aspects of the area in tandem with the owners perception of such particular requirements.

“Obviously the appointment of Welsh speakers will reinforce the whole raison d’être of the project,” said Hefin Wyn, the acting chairman of Cymdeithas Tafarn Sinc.

“The intention is to reflect the nature of the community surrounding both sides of the Preseli mountains. A thoroughly Welsh welcome will be given to all visitors,”

The job advert describes Tafarn Sinc as ‘a hearth of hiraeth’ which sums up the nostalgia felt by many who perhaps have only paid one visit.

The sawdust strewn floor and the various artefacts of bygone days on the walls and ceilings remind visitors of an almost forgotten era.

The support given by Hollywood star Rhys Ifans to the campaign to raise well over £300,000 highlights the fact that the pub has an international reputation.

The successful applicants will obviously have an unenviable responsibility to maintain the reputation and the brand created by the present owners.

The owners over the last 25 years, Brian and Hafwen Davies who are to retire, said they were delighted with the success of the community buy-out.

Hafwen and Brian will be pulling their last pint on October 28. The new community company will wish to ensure to preserve the uniqueness of Tafarn Sinc and celebrate what Hafwen and Brian have achieved.

“We wish them well and hope to visit on a frequent basis to sit down and enjoy tasty meals with old friends after a long stint at the bar and in the kitchen preparing the meals,” said Brian and Hafwen.

The committee for Cymdeithas Tafarn Sinc is now busy planning for the handover of the pub into community ownership with 438 shareholders/members owning 1,004 shares; an average of two and one-third shares per person to date and amounting to a sum of £200,800 of shares from investors with voting rights.

The Community Loan Scheme known as Peer to Peer lending (P2P) which was launched in September was a tremendous success that took the campaign to buy the pub over the finish line, with £125,000 raised within three weeks.