Writer admits he invented Nazi pub

by John Harrington A journalist who caused uproar in the mid-Wales town of Welshpool by claiming a pub was used as a meeting place for neo-Nazis has admitted the venue does not exist.

Freelance journalist Jack Jameson said his article in the New Statesman last month was supposed to be "an allegory" rather than a news story.

In the article, entitled Weimar in Wales, Jameson claimed to have stumbled across an un-named pub where German marching music was played and supporters of the far-right British National Party were giving Nazi salutes.

Residents, including local licensees, condemned the story.

Stuart Jones, secretary of the local LVA, said his organisation was taking legal advice about the article, while Mont-gomeryshire MP Lembit Opik wrote to the magazine complaining that the portrayal of the town was inaccurate.

Jameson admitted that the pub did not exist after police were called in to investigate last week.

Jameson told a local TV station: "It is, in fact, not a news story.

It is an allegorical story.

"It is trying, by use of allegory and symbolism, to draw a comparison between certain happenings in mid-Wales and what happened in Weimar, Germany, in 1933."

He added: "If the pub does exist, it is, indeed, no more than a composite ­ something which is put together from a number of different instances."

Jameson apologised to the people of Welshpool ­ and said he had "great fondness" for the town.

Local Welsh Assembly member Glyn Davies added: "I'm pleased the magazine has decided to apologise.

To me, the issue wasn't about racism, it was about journalistic standards.