A former JD Wetherspoon’s pub in Penarth has been taken on by expanding south Wales pubs group Croeso. Croeso Pubs has agreed a lease deal for the Bear’s Head in the seaside town, after Wetherspoon opted not to renew its lease in March.
Croeso plans to reopen the pub in July. The freehold interest in the building is owned by Nefertiti Fashions. Last December Croeso acquired the Discovery in the Lakeside area of Cardiff, where it has since invested £400,000. It has also recently extended the Blue Bell in Cardiff’s city centre into the former Brew Monster bar next door. Last year it also acquired the lease for the Dock pub in Cardiff Bay.
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Croeso Pubs director Simon Little said: “We are really pleased to be able to add a venue in Penarth to our growing portfolio and hope to replicate the success we’ve had in our other venues to the Bear’s Head by delivering what the people of Penarth want in their local pub.
“We aren’t planning on changing what is already a winning formula at The Bear’s Head, the prices will mostly remain the same.”
Fellow Croeso Pubs director, Craig Davies, said: “The Bear’s Head fits extremely well with our model of acquiring larger sites and we are hopeful that we can not only secure the jobs of the staff currently working there, but also create new ones as we extend our offering.
“We now have a successful formula that we have worked hard to refine when taking over new pubs, which fulfils our determination to provide quality venues for the communities we operate in. The fact that the community launched a petition when the closure of the Bear’s Head was announced demonstrates that this is a place that matters to locals, and this only galvanises our resolve to invest in this pub in Penarth. It is our intention to run the business along the same ‘value lines’ as the local community previously enjoyed.”
Croeso Pubs has proven track record of breathing new life into venues. It took over the lease for the Philharmonic and reopened it in 2017 following a £1m refurbishment. It also took over the former Brains pub 33 on Windsor Place in the centre of Cardiff in late 2022 and reopened it as a food led venue the Daffodil. Its portfolio also includes the Brewhouse in Pontcanna.
