Welcome to The Halfway - Pubtopia crowd funding page. Thank you for being interested in the story of Jason, Rhi and The Halfway.
About Us - as told by Rhi.
Jason & I brought The Halfway in March 2022. We had been hankering to live more rurally for many years and (after watching far too much 'Ben fogle - lives in the wild' during lockdown), we took the plunge. Accompanying us are our two teenagers Ben (chess-loving super nerd ) & Mya (artistic, aspiring tattoo artist).
In our former lives, Jason was a self-employed groundsman & gravedigger & I was a youth & community worker. As such, we have both worked with people, and often worked with them when they are at their most vulnerable. In our former community alongside our paid employment we launched (or helped to run) many community projects. The Newbridge park n play project provided families with free play opportunities during the summer holidays. One of the most popular attractions was a huge water slide we provided every year; if you would like to see videos of Jason covered in bubble bath accelerating down a steep slope at great speed, they are available on the internet :). Another popular event was 'Light up Newbridge' where we raised funds to design, purchase, store & erect the village Christmas lighting as well as hold a free switch on event for the community. We also raised funds for The Royal British legion by creating a display of large poppies which we erected around the village and were sponsored by the local community.
We understand & value what being part of a community means to people of all walks of life. We know that The Halfway can be far more than a pub, we want to turn the vision of Pubtopia into reality.
What have we done so far?
Since opening The Halfway, we have worked extremely hard to increase the trade at the pub. We offer a wide selection of events from Jazz to Drag (we are nothing if not varied!). We are keen to support creativity & enjoy hosting live music & other forms of entertainment at the pub to bring new life and experiences into the village.
We employ 8 local people, many of whom are young people experiencing the workplace for the first time. We are keen to continue to provide job opportunities as we grow.
We often welcome tourists to the area from local accommodation & have now purchased a 7 seater car so that we can offer free transport home to more of our guests. We continue to forge working relationships with other local businesses & hope to further support the local economy as we grow. We are continually increasing the amount of produce we purchase locally to show off local farmers, local traders and decrease the carbon footprint of our hospitality.
Working in collaboration with a local school we have been providing young people with work experience opportunities at the pub during the day. This project has enabled young people to experience a range of opportunities including gardening, kitchen skills, marketing & much more. We will develop this project in line with our growth.
To date, we have raised over £2,000 for the air ambulance & just over £1,000 for Dreams & Wishes children's charity. We have also donated many prizes for local charities to raffle off, money to a local grassroots football side & are proud sponsors of Abergavenny pride.
Since buying the pub, we have worked relentlessly to invest both time & funds into much needed maintenance. Much of this work is unseen but we have completed a considerable amount of work to both the heating & electrics. We have replaced or repaired & serviced much of the kitchen equipment. We have created a new dry store & freezer room. We have increased the amount of taps on our bar: enabling a wider selection for our customers & paved the patio to provide a larger seating area. We have opened up the beer garden, which has enhanced the view & continue to add a splash of colour by planting & upcyclying. We have been awarded a score of 5/5 during our inspection by Monmouthshire borough council environmental health. We have also been working very hard to establish good reviews on both Google & social media platforms - we currently have 127 reviews with a rating of 4.8 on Google & 33 reviews with a 5 rating on facebook. These reviews help us to attract new customers & advertise to a wider audience.
We can honestly say we are giving our little pub and our village the 100% that it deserves.
What we would like to do - the basics
We want to grow the pub in harmony with the community & in addition to providing the normal pub services we aspire to offer much more...
However, despite our best efforts we continue to discover a range of maintenance issues which is slowing us down and making the vision of Pubtopia a distant dream. We have recently had to close due to a collapsed sewerage pipe & when repairing the issue it has become apparent that further works including replacing old pipework and installing a fat trap are needed in order for our sewage system to be more effective.
Frequent visitors maybe aware that our electricity often trips during exceptionally busy periods & although we have invested a considerable amount in upgrading the electrics, we require a new fuse box to be installed solely for kitchen use with further individual fuse boxes for appliances. This fuse box will enable us to utilise more equipment in the kitchen simultaneously without experiencing complete power loss. We also require a new oven so that all the hobs work (currently 2 out of 8 do which restricts what and how we can cook!). These investments will help us to improve our services & vastly reduce our stress levels too!
In addition to these tasks & in order to reach our vision of Pubtopia we need to fix the roof of our outbuilding, replace the fencing around our oil & gas tank to secure them from members of the public, purchase new benches (most of the former benches are in a poor state of repair & 6 benches are kindly on loan), purchase 2 more comfortable sets of outdoor furniture for customers unable to utilise benches & create an undercover area & extend to the side of our current patio.
What we would like to do - creating 'Pubtopia'
Pubtopia is our vision to create a community pub for all,: a welcoming space for both locals & visitors alike where community is at the centre of everything we do.
We are developing a wide range of services for our local community including a village shop based at the pub. Following a grant application to 'Pub is the Hub', we have been successful in obtaining some initial funding to start this project. This is an amazing step in the right direction for us, but we're being held back by all of the maintenance issues.
The shop will increase access to local produce, support local suppliers, be a valuable asset to our community & tourists alike whilst reducing the carbon footprint of our community.
Creating a performance area & new seating will enable us to offer live music & entertainment without reducing our internal capacity. Supporting creativity is very important to us here & as the arts were an industry hit very hard by the pandemic as hospitality, we feel supporting live music & arts is a natural partnership that can only enhance our development. These improvements will enable us to widen our customer base & increase our capacity, especially during the busy summer months which will help us to increase trade & therefore our sustainability.
By improving the maintenance of the building, we can provide a secure base from which to grow & provide a new range of services for the whole community.
How you can help
Unfortunately, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We can't resolve all of the maintenance issues whilst developing our vision which includes the shop & outdoor space. The funds we need to do the maintenance are only achievable through the growth of our services. But we can only grow our services by doing the maintenance and improvements which we could not have foreseen.
In the current climate for hospitality, we just can't do it! But with your help, 'Pubtopia' could become a reality! We can stave off the pressures through our vision: helping us, helping The Halfway, helping the local community.
Can you donate to our crowdfunder ? Can you share this on your social media? Do you know a local business or individual who may like to help us?