If you haven’t been to the Cross Guns Inn in Pant recently, then ‘come back and see us’, that’s the message from licencee Maureen (Mo) Hale. We went along to find out more…
We started by asking Mo about her first memories of the local area and how she ended up running the Cross Guns.
“I was born in Welshpool and my Mum and Dad were from Meifod and I grew up in Pontrobert, so I am fairly local. As a child we used to play in the woods around Llanymynech and Pant and apparently as a child I even stood in the pub’s car park.
“We saw that the Cross Guns’ lease was available when Nigel was working near Newtown and we drove past and saw the sign. We thought, why don’t we run our own pub?”
Mo says that she has been working in pubs since her teens when she had a part-time cleaning job at a pub in Cheshire. She first worked behind the bar in the Black Bear in Whitchurch and got her first taste of running a pub when some friends at the Plume of Feathers in the town went away for a weeks’ holiday – and didn’t come back for a month.
The Cross Guns is listed as an asset of community value and Mo says that her aim for the pub is for it to be at the heart of the community with good food. “Our food is freshly home cooked and we aim to offer value for money. Our produce and meat comes from local businesses and if our customers eat and drink here they are not only supporting the pub but also a number of other local businesses.”
During our interview Mo pops out briefly to take a local villager a meal to his home. This is just one of the ways that Maureen and her team have become involved in the community. Says Mo: “We have sponsored Four Crosses football team as well as holding an annual music event in our garden – PantFest. Our bingo night is becoming more popular and a number of groups meet in the pub. Basically, we are aiming to be a social space for the community.”
“We are dog and walker friendly,” says Mo. “We have recently started serving cake and coffee and it won’t be long before we have mulled wine ready for those winter walks followed by a visit to the pub in front of the log fire. Come in and check us out.”
Christmas Day is always popular at the Guns and this year a five course Christmas lunch is £75 per person.
Mo says she doesn’t have much time for hobbies but she likes the local area and live music and has been to see both Genesis and Bryan Adams. Perhaps that’s where her keenness to have live music at the pub comes from.
Like all businesses, Mo has to contend with increasing prices and so inevitably costs are rising. Mo says that the cost of living crisis is certainly a challenge and the message is that locals should support the pub as best they can.
So if you are passing, why not pop in!