The latest 'Iechyd Da' beer column from brewer Simon Buckley

 

The Iechyd Da beer column for the Carmarthen Journal by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Evan-Evans Brewery - 

Thank goodness we are not in the Euro Zone.
Well, of course, we are in the Euro Zone, but we are not part of the Euro and all that goes with that.
The Buckley family holidays this year took to the South of France and I am delighted to report the weather was wonderful. But, of course, dear reader, there was a ‘but’!
Ever since the introduction of the Euro, I have thought that rural France (and for that matter rural Ireland) has suffered as a result of the introduction of the single currency.
We have known for a long time that the rural economy in Europe has taken a nosedive, but for a brewer in foreign lands nothing is more depressing than that moment when the mercury surges north past the 40 degrees C mark and the search becomes ever more difficult for a glass of beer!
Based near Agen, between Bordeaux and Toulouse, the rural economy is driven by agriculture and the small village Bastide communities are certainly in decline.
You now drive through villages where there is no local pub, no local restaurant . . . merely isolated memorials to the Free French and resistance fighters.
So, you can imagine my surprise to receive on my return from hols, an email from my dear friend Huw Denman, a former alumni of ‘Coleg Brechfa’, where I endured my later years of education, addressing the very issue of rural decline and the closure of yet another rural Welsh pub.
The attempt to try and convert one of the last pubs in Brechfa into a residence has stirred a rural rebellion.
The new owners already have the plastic windows installed.
Huw and the ‘good burghers’ of Brechfa have found a common determination to fight a planning application to turn the once famous Forest Arms into a domestic residence.
The inn was famous in its time for late hours, great beer, the best ham, egg and chips in the Cothi valley, incredible fishing stories of monster sewin and for being a place where the champions of the Tippit world met every week.
Having been closed for 10 years, there are some who may ask where have you been until now Huw?
I suspect I know the answer. Often communities do not know what they are missing in the community until it has gone.
But, thank goodness, the community of Brechfa has woken to resist the temptation to rollover and let a famous coaching inn disappear into the mist of history.
Let me tell you this once great pub is not destined for the knacker’s yard of rural pubs.
I want to stand up and say that rural pubs that are well run will win through!
Not because HRH the Prince of Wales says so, but because there are plenty of examples to support the argument.
Yes, there are times when it is touch and go, but if the community gets behind it then there is every chance we can make the pub great again.
For you doubters, and nay-sayers, take a trip to Rhandirmwyn and go to the Royal Oak because there is a rural community pub in the middle of nowhere that is a beacon to the licensed trade, beer lovers, and the great outdoors.
I have a funny feeling that Brechfa will not follow rural France and will end up with a great pub.
I will be one of the first to host a reunion with my former Alumni of Coleg Brechfa.
For once, I actually support the council planners! Time to head for a dark place!