A Nefyn pub has diversified, opening an outdoor events space to improve health and wellbeing, tackle loneliness and give locals an opportunity to learn new skills.

Expert help and a Community Services Fund grant from Pub is The Hub has helped Tafarn yr Heliwr purchase a gazebo for the community garden to provide an all-weather space to bring people together. The funding has also helped to landscape the garden and create tall, raised beds to support green-fingered volunteers with mobility issues.

Pub is The Hub, is a not-for-profit organisation that helps pubs to diversify and provide essential local services. It is supporting projects in rural areas across Wales after receiving a grant of £25,000 from The Royal Countryside Fund.

Gardd Yr Heliwr Community Garden was established by volunteers, organised by the pub, who gave around 1,000 hours of their time towards the design and initial development of the project.

Many Nefyn residents live in traditional, small, terraced homes with little or no garden space, so the community garden is an important resource for locals.

By creating a new formal seating area inside the gazebo, with benches and chairs, the garden committee plan to enable more activities, such as apple pressing, volunteer training, and coffee and cake mornings.

The new structure will also mean that there is space to hold more events and meetings within the garden, supporting groups to socialise together which can help to tackle rural isolation, and improve wellbeing.

Chair of Yr Heliwr Rhodri Evans said: “This wonderful outdoor events space will encourage local people to spend more time together and volunteer in the garden. It will also provide an outdoor space where we can offer educational as well as social events.”

Pub is The Hub Wales advisor Malcolm Harrison said: “This events space will have a positive impact in helping to bring people together to help combat loneliness and isolation. Volunteering in the garden and using this outdoor space will have a real social benefit for local resident and those in the wider community.”

Tafarn yr Heliwr was an integral part of community life in the conservation area of Nefyn for many generations, until it finally it sadly closed its doors in 2009 along with several other local shops and businesses in the town. In 2018, locals decided there was a real need to get the pub reopened. The building was successfully purchased by the community in November 2018.