Wales

Carne Park Hotel

Abercynon, Mid Glamorgan

Abercynon was a mining village until the local pit closed in the early 1970s. Although the mining has long since disappeared, the community spirit lives on in the village and is very evident at the Carne Park Hotel.

While many pubs in the Welsh valleys are struggling or have closed, the Carne is thriving, with wet sales up 22% and food sales ahead by 14% compared with the previous year.

Fun and fundraising

Consortium Group, the Carne's owner, has spent a significant sum over the past year on expanding the restaurant area from 25 to 60 covers, extending the kitchen and creating a new beer garden. In addition, the entire interior of the pub has been given a facelift. These improvements are helping trade, but even more so are the wide varieties of community-based activities that staged at the managed house.

The local primary school benefited to the tune of £500 from a night of fun and entertainment, which included a "stars in your eyes" competition. A similar night raised over £1,300 for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Race nights are a regular event at the Carne, again with fundraising in mind.

Something for everyone

To cater for all sectors of the community, weekly entertainment includes music and karaoke nights as well as one-off events, held every three months, such as featuring a top comedian, hypnotist, drag queen and world-class darts champion Peter Manley.

The pub has its own darts, pool and football teams and also sponsors junior rugby teams. Local organisations such as a squash club, rugby club, and benevolent society the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes also hold their meetings at the Carne.