Author: Rhys Gregory

Ahead of the next stage of the Welsh Government’s roadmap out of lockdown, the Brains and Marston’s pub operator has confirmed that 27 pubs across Cardiff will reopen from the 26th April. With the focus on alfresco hospitality, pubs that can accommodate customers in outdoor gardens will operate with an adapted offering in line with restrictions. Key details across all Brains and Marston’s pubs regarding reopening include: Adapted food and drink offers for customers to enjoy outdoors. Food offers may vary from site to site, but much-loved pub food will be at the heart of every menu which will include vegetarian…

A RUNDOWN building is being transformed into a revolutionary Covid business centre by the team behind a leading marketing and IT company. NorthWales Media has been renovating an empty former supermarket site on Church Street in Flint. The firm, based on the town’s Market Square, has invested £200,000 and plans to unveil services including a recording studio, board room, games area, makeover space, a sensory perception suite, ‘Zoom Rooms’ for video conferencing and IT, exhibition and hot desk facilities. With a focus on safety and security in light of the Coronavirus pandemic – and providing visitors with a carbon neutral…

Compass Group, the UK’s largest food and support services firm, has launched Compass Cymru as a distinct business within the Group. The business is committed to supporting the Welsh hospitality industry, championing local suppliers, and fostering the next generation of talent, announcing at least 50 new apprenticeship opportunities this year. Headed by Jane Byrd, Compass Cymru’s Managing Director, the organisation operates in more than 60 sites across Wales, employing thousands of people. Providing innovative, sustainable and high-quality catering and support services across sectors including sports and leisure, education, defence, and workplace catering, the company drives the availability of Welsh produce…

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai is set to double its output from solar voltaic energy following the installation of its first large scale solar array last year. A solar array of 100kWp was installed on the Sports building roof at the Grŵp’s Rhos-on-Sea campus in August. Since then, it has already generated well over 10,000kW electricity, equating to a saving in excess of £1,500. The Grŵp has set ambitious targets to minimise its carbon dioxide emissions from electricity usage, as detailed in the 2020-21 Environmental Action Plan. The aim is to achieve total savings of 107,780KWh and 44,410kg in CO2 emissions, which…

Hay Festival has revealed its free digital programme for its 34th spring edition, bringing writers and readers together for an inspiring array of conversations, debates, workshops and performances online, Wednesday 26 May to Sunday 6 June. Over 12 days, more than 200 acclaimed writers, global policy makers, historians, poets, pioneers and innovators will take part in this year’s Festival, launching the best new fiction and non-fiction. It will interrogate some of the biggest issues of our time, from building a better world post-pandemic to tackling the compound crises of climate change, inequality, and challenges to truth and democracy. Landmark Festival conversations…

A team of handy National Lottery winners have spent the winter lockdown building nest boxes to house some of Wales’ woodland bird population. The creative winners hope that their efforts will help bolster the birds’ presence in two Welsh nature reserves. Keen to be part of the action were Davinia and Jeff Pritchard from Porthrhyd in Carmarthenshire, who won £1M on the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker draw in June 2015. The wildlife-loving couple joined Lottery winners nationwide who gathered round their kitchen tables and shed workbenches to carry out this project remotely. The result of their collaboration is a collection…

Four more businesses have signed new leases at Cardiff city centre’s Creative Quarter offices within recent months. With lockdown restrictions gradually easing, Cardiff city centre’s Creative Quarter is continuing to see demand from SMEs, with four more businesses signing new leases within the past few months. In recent months, Creative Quarter has secured new leases from leading independent planning and design consultancy, Barton Wilmore, planning specialist Simply Planning and architects O:AD Studios, all on three-year leases. In addition, Cardiff solicitors DMM Legal Services Limited has expanded into the 507 sq ft Suite 205 on a three-year lease, with existing tenant,…

After months of staying at home to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, millions of people across the UK are longing to escape to the countryside for a holiday or short break. There’s no better place to relax and immerse oneself in beautiful countryside and spectacular scenery than Mid Wales, the rural heartland of Wales which offers something for everyone. From the rivers, lakes and mountains of Powys and the Brecon Beacons National Park to the stunning Cardigan Bay coastline, the Cambrian Mountains and the foothills of Snowdonia, the region is packed with places and things to see and…

The Westerleigh Group will be honouring pandemic hero Captain Sir Tom Moore by raising money in his memory on what would have been his 101st birthday on 30 April. Westerleigh Group, the UK’s largest independent owner and operator of crematoria and cemeteries, is challenging staff at its 35 sites nationwide to come up with creative ways of supporting the Captain Tom Foundation. This includes the teams at Aberystwyth, Langstone Vale, Llanelli, and Sirhowy Valley crematoria. The group has also set up a Just Giving page and is inviting anyone from the communities served by their sites to pay their own…

A Swansea University lecturer’s latest book was not only a labour of love but also a chance to pay tribute to the man who inspired his passion for the game of cricket. Cricketing Lives: A Characterful History from Pitch to Page by Dr Richard Thomas is published next month and looks back at some of the sport’s most remarkable players and the stories that surround them. Dr Thomas, associate professor of media and communication in the College of Arts and Humanities, was introduced to the sport by his late father Richard Howard Thomas, who captained of the University cricket team…