Pub could become museum exhibit

A Cardiff pub due to be demolished in June 2009 could be preserved as part of an open-air museum.

The 155-year-old former ironworkers' pub, the Vulcan Hotel in Adamstown, is due to be knocked down to make way for a multi-storey car park next year.

A spokesman for St Fagans National History Museum said: "We are actively looking to add a pub to our buildings collection and we intend to take a closer look at the Vulcan Hotel in the near future."

If the museum were to be offered the pub, it would "gladly consider it" although the building's suitability would have to be assessed, and the Victorian pub would have to have most of its original features.

Brian Smart, husband of the Vulcan's licensee Elizabeth Smart, said: "I can't see it happening, it would be too expensive and take too long. It's sad really, it's always been such a lively pub, and it would be a lonely spot with all those other empty buildings. But I suppose it's better than it going to dust."

The SA Brain-operated pub was sold under a compulsory purchase order to the developer last year, but it has been leased back until June 2009, when building will commence.

The National History Museum at St Fagans, near Cardiff, houses a collection of buildings that have been preserved following demolition, and rebuilt in its "village" to "reflect how the people of Wales have lived throughout the ages", a museum spokesman said.

He added: "You can't reflect the day-to-day life of the people of Wales without having a pub." The village currently has over 40 original buildings from different historical periods, which have been re-erected in the 100-acre parkland, including a church, a forge, farmhouse and school.