Mold Alehouse praised in Senedd pubs debate
A Mold pub has been cited in the Senedd as an example of how local venues can support independent breweries and strengthen the Welsh hospitality sector.
During a Senedd debate on the future of Welsh pubs, Llyr Gruffydd MS (Plaid Cymru, North Wales) referred to the Mold Alehouse as one of several venues working closely with small producers.
Speaking in the chamber, he said venues such as the Mold Alehouse in Flintshire showed “what’s possible when pubs work hand in hand with small producers, creating new opportunities, attracting new customers and supporting genuinely local supply chains.”
The debate focused on the pressures facing pubs across Wales, including business rates, energy costs and staffing.
Mr Gruffydd told members that the Welsh beer and pub sector generates more than £1.5 billion for the national economy and supports over 68,000 jobs.
He said that across England and Wales “an average of one pub per day closed permanently” in 2025.
Highlighting links between pubs and Wales’s growing microbrewery sector, Mr Gruffydd also named venues in Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Wrexham as examples of how independent pubs and small breweries can work together.
He told the Senedd that such partnerships help ensure “the profits generated through these enterprises then remain rooted in our communities, rather than being siphoned off to distant multinational companies.”
The debate also covered concerns about business rates.
Quoting correspondence from the Llandudno Hospitality Association, Mr Gruffydd said:
“New analysis shows that the hospitality sector in Aberconwy is projected to see its business rates bill increase by a total £5.3 million over the next three years… Most are seeing increases of 30 to 80 % in their rateable values”.
He called for longer-term certainty on business rate relief and asked ministers to back “multi-year certainty” for pubs in Wales.
Responding, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford, said that since 2020 “more than £1 billion in additional temporary relief for hospitality businesses, including pubs, has been provided by the Welsh taxpayer.”
He told members that business rates were “part of the ongoing conversation here in the Senedd”.
The debate concluded without new policy commitments, but with calls for longer-term certainty on rates relief.
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