Saith Seren
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Posts
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I think that there’s a lot of misconceptions about the Saith Seren… I’ll start by saying that I’m a Labour party member and at first there is the feeling that the Saith Seren is a Plaid recruiting office which does take a while to get over, but it isn’t really. It’s just a pub. Yes some of the most vocal people representing at are PC members but there isn’t a political indoctrination aspect to the place.
The suggestion is that it should be turned into some kind of cultural experience centre seems a bit strange, as again it’s a pub. There is already Siop-Y-Siswrn in the market which sells CDs, books etc if that’s what people want, and a very good WCBC run tourist info centre in Queens Square.
It’s a community cooperative run pub so that’s why people are donating and want to be a part of it, if you don’t go in then you don’t have to donate. I’m not sure why people have a problem with that part. Tyn-y-Capel in Minera is run on a similar community cooperative model I think, but people don’t have a problem with that place.
The reason people want to save the Saith Seren is that it offers things that not many places in Wrexham offer… A place for people to speak Welsh, a place for learners to meet each other and chat in a relaxed friendly environment, Welsh classes take place all over Wrexham and it’s nice to have a relaxed venue where people can meet up centrally and practice, not just with other learners, but bar staff and people in there. Then there’s the music and other events which take place in Welsh, which people want to go to and be part of. If you want to watch a Welsh rock band there aren’t any other pubs in Wrexham town centre to go to.
One of the stories I heard in a nearby pub was that you had to speak Welsh to drink there, which is rubbish
because I have drank there and I can’t speak Welsh. (sorry to say)[quote quote=93621]
The suggestion is that it should be turned into some kind of cultural experience centre seems a bit strange, as again it’s a pub. There is already Siop-Y-Siswrn in the market which sells CDs, books etc if that’s what people want, and a very good WCBC run tourist info centre in Queens Square.
What individuals like Dylan are saying is that the current model is a failure. The fact that people are having to dole out money to it suggests a failure and people can continue funding the failure for as long as they like. Me personally, I would like to see it a success. There are elements of it that would play out well but those who run it need to go back to the drawing board and reconfigure the business. As long as it occupies a pub business and behaves like a pub, the Saith Seren will be regarded as a pub. This is the brand. The reason that people are suggesting that it might move and reinvent itself is that the better elements of it might work in a better setting…..especially if other elements were added to it. It does seem odd that the potential of trying to persuade other “Welsh” niche businesses like the CD shop in the Market to come under an umbrella don’t seem logical to some. This would seem obvious to me. Indeed, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t suggested the conversion of one of the Markets to something like this….a Welsh language quarter. Carrying on riding a horse that doesn’t seem to have any legs seems pointless
If this is going to survive it needs a totally new business plan as the original concept of bar profits being used to promote Welsh has not worked. Subsidy of £3k month is a massive ask. Emotion alone cannot keep the door open.
When I was running a pub it would have been very nice to receive a subsidy of £3k a month. Whilst the sentiment of community run enterprises are admirable, and in stand alone (e.g. in a village) situations they can may be justified, in a town with many other similar outlets it is really unfair competition. In small pubs the owner/landlord and family do much of the work themselves, but in the case of the Saith Seren all workers have to be paid a competitive wage which vastly increases overheads.
Just seen the BBC news items showing SS full of customers — were on earth have they been during the past year — if that number had been using the facilities all the time there would not be a need for a subsidy and they would have been making profits.
Is good that SS has gained support but remember ‘guilt’ funding rarely lasts and could soon taper off when people decide they can’t be bothered to go to their ‘charity’ then it becomes donation at a distance and then the donations start to dry up.
The work to keep SS open will be twice as guard as before requiring twice as many people to actually keep the doors open.
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