There are fewer than 1,000 people living in the village outside of Cardiff and yet they raised the huge sum to keep the pub open
Landlady Monika Zakrzewska at the bar at the Three Horseshoes pub in Peterston-super-Ely. She has been able to stay there because the villagers put their hands in their pockets(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
The owner of a quaint village pub thought her dream was over just months after it had begun. The Three Horseshoes in Peterston-super-Ely just outside Cardiff had been closed in 2022 and a couple of weeks later the neighbouring pub The Sportsman’s Rest also shut its doors.
In January, 2023, Monika Zakrzewska and her partner Nathan Ali decided to re-open the Three Horseshoes despite it having struggled before and with Monika, who is from Poland, having never heard of the village which has a population of fewer than 1,000 people.
“I had actually never heard of the place when Nathan asked me if I’d be interested in coming here. I thought he meant Ely in Cardiff,” she laughed. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here
Monika Zakrzewska chats with partner Nathan Ali in the bar area of the Three Horseshoes pub in Peterston-super-Ely(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
But, hearing how the loss of the pub had affected the small village so badly, the couple set out to make it a community hub where the local book and running clubs could meet. She started a quiz night and bought alpacas to entertain the kids in the surrounding land.
Things soon began to unravel, however, when owner Valiant told her of its decision to sell up. Without the money to buy the pub from them, she had all but given up on her dream.
Monika, 37, told WalesOnline: “It was always about the Sportsman in Peterston. Most of the village went to the Sportsman and the Three Horseshoes hadn’t really done well for a long time. When both pubs closed there was a lot of sadness in the village.
“We took over the tenancy agreement and were told after one year we could sign a longer lease agreement – maybe for five or 10 years. But then the owner decided to sell it which was a huge shock.
“We would never have been able to buy it ourselves. No-one would have given us a mortgage after a year of trading. So I thought I was going to be left homeless with my alpacas. It was really sad. And then that’s where the village came in.”
The Three Horseshoes at the top of the small village was closed in 2022 after a period of struggle and the villagers didn’t want to see it close again(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Desperate for help and with nowhere to turn, Monika and Nathan began telling punters about their plight and started to realise there was a lot of local appetite to do something outside the box to keep the pub open. They set up an online fundraiser and asked villagers to spread word to their neighbours, and within a year the village had donated well over £100,000 to the couple – enough to persuade Allica Bank to give them a mortgage.
Nathan, 47, said: “It’s been incredible. The pub now really feels like it belongs to the village.” Monika said: “I could never have expected anything like this. There is no way we’d still be here without them.”
The couple said the pub was now doing well even in the face of well-documented challenges for the industry. Eight pubs a week shut their doors for good across the UK over the first half of the year amid rising tax and labour costs.
“It’s very hard, basically because of costs,” Nathan explained. “An example is oil which was £21.99 for a bottle when we started and now it’s £47.99 – and that’s what it’s like across the board.”
“But it’s so much easier now for us because of the village’s donation,” Monika explained. “Because we’re now freehold so we’re not tied to a brewery and that saves us a lot of money. It means we can stay reasonably priced.”
Peterston-super-Ely, with a population of around 1,000, has raised more than £100,000 for the pub to stay open(Image: Richard Swingler)
While Peterston is a wealthy village there are few amenities, as reported in 2022, and the couple said it was important the pub was more than just a boozer. In December they’ll be hosting the village’s annual festive tractor parade in aid of farmers’ mental health.
“It’s literally the hub of the community,” Nathan said. “We’ve got bell-ringers who meet here, table tennis, book clubs, the vicars come every Wednesday here every week. We get all sorts.
“It’s different here. It’s personal. You go into Cardiff and it feels like you’re just a number. It’s not like that here. We rarely get people in here who are from outside the village. The pub relies fully on the village and we’re doing well thanks to them.”
Dan McMurdo of Allica Bank said: “It was about making sure the deal was legally viable but added to that was the fact it was a pub – and ordinarily banks don’t like pubs because they’re closing across the country from week to week.
“But there was clear potential here. It’s clearly a strong village which supports its local pub and that makes it work. We’re happy to lend to good businesses and this is clearly a good and respected business. Not everything is perfect but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a business and a successful one at that.”