:00:08. > :00:13.The Welsh Liam mullered, that traditional haven, that oasis of
:00:13. > :00:18.light in the gloom, is under a three-pronged attack, from the
:00:18. > :00:22.smoking ban, the recession and cheap supermarket drink. This
:00:22. > :00:28.series is about to die hard battle to keep these pubs alive. Over the
:00:28. > :00:38.past year, we have followed some of those on the front line, from city
:00:38. > :00:41.
:00:41. > :00:48.centre I think to a country village inns. The triumphs and the mishaps,
:00:48. > :00:53.the jubilation and the tears. way you look, there's pubs boarded
:00:53. > :00:59.up, and you just hope yours is not going to be the next one. All of
:00:59. > :01:05.them have the same goal, to keep their locals from calling time. In
:01:05. > :01:13.this episode, can a much-loved Swansea local survive against the
:01:13. > :01:18.odds? This pub used to be packed to the rafters. It is somewhere to go
:01:18. > :01:28.and meet your friends, and it is going, slowly but surely. One woman
:01:28. > :01:29.
:01:29. > :01:36.put her life savings on the line to resurrect a derelict pub. With the
:01:36. > :01:42.first Welsh pub dating back 900 years, the pub has been integral
:01:42. > :01:46.part of our fabric ever since. It has survived Cromwell's puritans,
:01:46. > :01:52.the Sunday opening ban and the temperance movement, but nothing
:01:52. > :01:57.has prepared the industry for the struggle of the last 10 years.
:01:57. > :02:03.Wales is currently losing seven pubs a week, that's one every day.
:02:03. > :02:13.As early as next year, one in eight UK pubs will be bankrupt. A once
:02:13. > :02:21.
:02:21. > :02:26.thriving industry is facing a Hundreds of pubs regularly go under
:02:26. > :02:32.the hammer at auctions across Wales, where they can be snapped up for as
:02:32. > :02:39.little as �20,000. Some people see opportunity. At this auction in
:02:39. > :02:49.Cardiff, Tina is an investor hoping to grab a bargain. For only �40,000,
:02:49. > :02:54.she has snapped up the Gateway in the town of Porth. The pub has been
:02:54. > :02:59.empty since its owners went bankrupt six years ago. Tina will
:02:59. > :03:04.be spending another �20,000 on renovation. It is like a maze, so
:03:04. > :03:10.many little doors and little rooms. But it soon dawns on her that
:03:10. > :03:16.�50,000 might not be enough. This has got to be ripped out,
:03:16. > :03:20.completely and utterly gutted. The floor has got to come up, so
:03:20. > :03:26.basically we will be left with the shell. The electrics has got to be
:03:26. > :03:33.renewed, the emergency lighting has got to be renewed. This is a mess.
:03:33. > :03:40.It is just peeling off. They left everything to do. My God, look at
:03:40. > :03:46.that. What it says in the specification is not always what it
:03:46. > :03:53.is. It did not say that there was stuff here that you have got to
:03:53. > :03:58.clean and get out. Six years it hasn't been opened, and this is
:03:58. > :04:08.what is left. It was a thriving pub once upon a time. This is going to
:04:08. > :04:14.cost me an arm and a leg. Bye-bye, money. For the past 15 years, Tina
:04:14. > :04:18.earned her living in Spain, a karaoke bar in a coastal town,
:04:18. > :04:23.renowned for its wild party atmosphere, mainly due to Tina's
:04:23. > :04:28.effervescent personality. And she has got no intention of leaving the
:04:28. > :04:33.party atmosphere in Spain. These are some things I brought over from
:04:33. > :04:43.Spain. I have got a candyfloss machine that I had in one of my
:04:43. > :04:50.bras in Spain. In this one we had alcoholic beverages, blue, orange,
:04:50. > :05:00.pineapple. I have got absolutely tons and tons of pictures. That's a
:05:00. > :05:15.
:05:15. > :05:19.Favourite one, even though it's broken. 40 miles away, on the
:05:19. > :05:23.outskirts of central Swansea, this pub on Carmarthen Road has been
:05:24. > :05:27.serving generations of regulars for more than a century. Until recently,
:05:27. > :05:32.the manufacturing industry was the main employer in the area, but one
:05:32. > :05:36.by one, all of the factories have closed, and the pub has felt the
:05:36. > :05:46.effect. It has been a long time since it was this busy, but tonight
:05:46. > :05:48.
:05:48. > :05:54.is a night for celebrations and farewells.
:05:54. > :06:03.# Floating around in ecstasy, so don't stop me now!
:06:03. > :06:06.# Don't stop me, I'm having a good time... Landlord Ron has been
:06:06. > :06:16.pulling pints here for 30 years, but tonight is different from any
:06:16. > :06:16.
:06:17. > :06:21.other. Can you or shut up? This is a farewell party to Rob Harris.
:06:21. > :06:26.This is only a quarter of the people that used to come here. We
:06:26. > :06:31.are saying goodbye to a true friend, not the landlord. It is also the
:06:31. > :06:34.dying trade of the local pub. the last 10 years, business has
:06:35. > :06:40.slowly declined, forcing Ron reluctantly to take early
:06:40. > :06:43.retirement. It is a familiar story for Ron and his wife. A lot of our
:06:44. > :06:48.friends are licensees, and they have all left the business, all of
:06:48. > :06:53.them. I think Ron is the last one to go. All of my friends are out,
:06:53. > :06:56.finished. For the last 12 months, I have been paying a lot of money to
:06:56. > :07:01.keep it afloat. It does hurt when you're taking money out of your
:07:01. > :07:06.pension to keep it going, which I have done for the last 18 months or
:07:06. > :07:13.so. The brewery has been unable to find a tenant to take over from Ron.
:07:13. > :07:17.Instead, it is putting the pub up for auction. It will remain closed,
:07:17. > :07:21.and its dwindling number of regulars will be without a local.
:07:21. > :07:26.You see it on television, the rivers return, that pub is always
:07:26. > :07:30.packed. That's a load of rubbish. You do not get backstreet pubs like
:07:30. > :07:34.that anymore. If somebody is going to take the sober, I don't know,
:07:34. > :07:42.but it will never be the same again. Who wants to buy a pub nowadays?
:07:42. > :07:52.long as we all stick together. Pubs are dying. You go up into the
:07:52. > :07:53.
:07:53. > :07:56.valleys, all died. They have gone the same way. The art of going out
:07:56. > :08:00.in the evening for a drink with friends who you only see in the pub
:08:00. > :08:05.has died. That is the way it is. This will probably be the last
:08:05. > :08:15.chance for the punters to savour the atmosphere here. It is also the
:08:15. > :08:25.
:08:25. > :08:35.last chance for Ron to call last Altogether, for he's a jolly good
:08:35. > :08:49.
:08:49. > :08:54.With the future of that pub in the balance, over in Porth, Tina has
:08:55. > :09:00.set herself an ambitious deadline, to get the pub up and running in
:09:00. > :09:05.just three short months. I'm a bit excited and mixed up at the moment.
:09:05. > :09:10.I'm just trying to think what I need all together just to start it
:09:10. > :09:15.off. While her budget might be limited, her imagination knows no
:09:15. > :09:25.bounds. And like to stampede with a personality which will be different
:09:25. > :09:25.
:09:25. > :09:30.from any other pub. Wow! That is something else, boys. I'm looking
:09:30. > :09:34.forward to doing something with it so that when they come in, they
:09:34. > :09:44.go... Pursue what they call different! Some people might not
:09:44. > :09:49.
:09:49. > :09:53.like what I do with it. You can use your imagination. And then to try
:09:53. > :10:03.doing most things, but some things I will have to pay somebody to do.
:10:03. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:11.I will try to do everything that I possibly can. It is always awkward
:10:11. > :10:17.with these long poles. What do you think of this, then, safety-first?
:10:17. > :10:21.You have got to have it! A bit bigger than this, because I will
:10:21. > :10:29.need to move. This is the future of my life for the next seven months,
:10:29. > :10:34.this, this and this. But this isn't Tina's first business venture in
:10:34. > :10:44.the Valleys. She has a colourful history as a business trailblazer.
:10:44. > :10:49.This Indian restaurant was once the first American diner in the Valleys.
:10:49. > :10:54.This is where I first started. It was a sweet shop, but at turned it
:10:54. > :11:03.into an American diner, the first one in the Valleys. You could hear
:11:03. > :11:11.people walking past, and I used to be thinking, no job, American diner.
:11:11. > :11:17.After that came a chain of American -- of unisex hair salons, but once
:11:17. > :11:23.again, it did not all goes smoothly. Because it had unisex, people said,
:11:23. > :11:27.we do not want a sex shop in Tonypandy. I said, it is not, it is
:11:27. > :11:33.a hair salon for men and women, the first in the Valleys. I have always
:11:33. > :11:41.had mishaps in the Valleys, I don't think anything is smooth for me.
:11:41. > :11:49.Next, she chose to open a bar in Spain. That was really a different
:11:49. > :11:53.sort of life. For 14 years, I was in Spain. Even though the money was
:11:53. > :11:58.there, and the people were OK, something happened to me, something
:11:58. > :12:04.was missing. I passed this hippy than with flowers on it, and it
:12:04. > :12:10.just said, one life, live it. It just goes over and over in my mind.
:12:10. > :12:15.You have only got one life, and you have got to live it. I made up my
:12:15. > :12:19.mind, I said, I'm going to come back home. I think you always come
:12:19. > :12:26.back to your roots, and my roots are here, definitely, I wanted to
:12:26. > :12:33.come back to the Rhondda. 14 years later, Tina's making a fresh start
:12:33. > :12:40.in business and in life, but how would she fair this time around? 25
:12:40. > :12:44.miles from Porth is the prosperous town of Caerleon. Until recently,
:12:44. > :12:48.Caerleon was home to 17 pubs, frequently full of locals, students
:12:48. > :12:52.and people fleeing Newport in search of a good night out. But
:12:52. > :12:56.Caerleon has felt the decline of the pub trade harder than most
:12:56. > :13:04.communities, and landlady Lorraine has seen half her competition
:13:04. > :13:10.disappear. I think originally when I came here there were 17 pubs for
:13:10. > :13:16.the catchment area. Everybody was busy in those days. There wasn't a
:13:16. > :13:23.quiet pub in Caerleon. It would be a choice of, where will we go
:13:23. > :13:26.tonight? They were good days, very good days. Increasingly, more and
:13:26. > :13:36.more of Caerleon's public houses have been transformed for other
:13:36. > :13:44.uses. Right here, up to what used to be a pub called the King's Arms,
:13:44. > :13:49.which is now an Indian curry house. Their Sunday lunches always had a
:13:49. > :13:56.good reputation. It is sad to see the change of use, but obviously it
:13:56. > :14:04.is better to have the pub open and trading as something, because the
:14:04. > :14:09.minute they're shut up, they just fall to reckon going. -- to rack
:14:09. > :14:13.and ruin. I drove through here the other evening, I did not see a soul.
:14:14. > :14:19.The pubs were open, there was nobody in them. The Angel is
:14:19. > :14:23.supposed to be having a change of use to a retail outlet. The gold
:14:23. > :14:28.Croft is now a bistro, more than eating house, as opposed to a
:14:28. > :14:38.drinking pub. And the one down the bottom, that was a pub, and is now
:14:38. > :14:40.
:14:40. > :14:50.a fish-and-chip shop or kebab house. And we pull up just outside this
:14:50. > :14:55.
:14:55. > :15:00.The rain and her husband Ian took over the White Hart in 2006. --
:15:00. > :15:06.Lorraine. She now runs the bar with the help of over 10 part-time staff
:15:06. > :15:11.but is struggling to keep the business afloat. When I first
:15:11. > :15:18.started you would easily be packed out every Friday and Saturday night.
:15:18. > :15:23.Now it is not as busy, the week day trade has near enough gone. Bank
:15:23. > :15:27.Holiday Sunday, when I started working here you could not move,
:15:27. > :15:33.you were out of glasses, we had extra staff on, now it is just like
:15:33. > :15:37.a normal Friday and Saturday night. The people who come in so that they
:15:38. > :15:42.love coming in here because it is traditional, it is proper, if there
:15:42. > :15:47.is sumps -- such a thing as a proper pub. I have but a lot of
:15:47. > :15:54.work into it and this was going to be my retirement pot but sadly my
:15:55. > :15:58.husband has passed away. This was our retirement pub. With the rain
:15:58. > :16:08.barely breaking even, she has given herself the summer to turn the
:16:08. > :16:13.
:16:13. > :16:17.business around. -- Lorraine. At the Mile End it is the morning
:16:17. > :16:22.after the pub closed its doors and have run and the regulars have come
:16:22. > :16:31.to collect the remains of their memories, the trinkets of better
:16:31. > :16:38.days. Believe it or not, that was me. You would not recognise me,
:16:38. > :16:47.would you? We had four bar staff on at any time in those days. Today I
:16:47. > :16:57.can do it with one and myself. We are not used to seeing these bare
:16:57. > :16:58.
:16:58. > :17:08.walls. You can see where all of the pictures have been. They have all
:17:08. > :17:13.
:17:13. > :17:19.gone. Everybody has taken their memento from the pub. -- a memento.
:17:19. > :17:22.My grandparents used to drink here, and it is all gone. There will not
:17:22. > :17:30.be much left tonight because everybody is coming and picking it
:17:30. > :17:40.up. I am glad it is not being left to be thrown out and destroyed.
:17:40. > :17:41.
:17:42. > :17:46.These people have a lot of memories of it. It is like a ghost town now.
:17:46. > :17:56.I will miss it after all of these years. I don't know what I am going
:17:56. > :18:19.
:18:19. > :18:28.There we are. The last time, my love. Farewell, Mile End. End of an
:18:28. > :18:33.era. Are you OK? Yes. Goodbye. fate of the Mile End will be
:18:33. > :18:43.decided at auction in three weeks' time but, for one, his time as
:18:43. > :18:49.landlord is finally over. -- father Ron. Eight weeks into her fast
:18:49. > :18:54.turnaround renovation project, Tina is rapidly running out of ideas. Is
:18:54. > :19:01.her lifeline turning into a death trap? Thank God for the build-up.
:19:02. > :19:08.He picked me up. I will show you the floor. This is where I fell
:19:08. > :19:18.through. Over the years, with the leakage from the urinals, the floor
:19:18. > :19:20.
:19:20. > :19:30.is just rotten. It is the acid in the urine. It is more work. Plenty
:19:30. > :19:31.
:19:31. > :19:39.to do. As always, Tina sees the funny side. I was going, Help, help,
:19:39. > :19:44.but obviously I am OK now. With each day of work, Tina has seen
:19:44. > :19:54.escalating costs. At the pub is eating up her �50,000 and she has
:19:54. > :19:58.
:19:58. > :20:03.been forced to rethink how grand designs. -- her grand design.
:20:03. > :20:13.will start putting money into the top floor and the kitchen. I don't
:20:13. > :20:16.
:20:16. > :20:20.want to run if I can't walk. The ceiling is coming down here as well.
:20:20. > :20:29.Today is auction day and the last chance to save the Mile End Park.
:20:29. > :20:34.With the guide price of �160,000, if it does not reach it, it will
:20:34. > :20:44.probably never open its doors again. It needs an investor with Tina's
:20:44. > :20:46.
:20:46. > :20:56.guts. The Mile End in Swansea, a terraced property. Just under half
:20:56. > :20:59.
:20:59. > :21:09.an acre out the back. Star May at 125. -- start me. 100, then. Do Y C
:21:09. > :21:19.
:21:19. > :21:26.100 anywhere? 100. At 110. 20 if you like. At 120. Are you all done?
:21:26. > :21:36.Not sold. You have not quite met the reserves. Another Welsh pub
:21:36. > :21:42.
:21:42. > :21:50.In car Leon, Lorraine is fighting hard to save the White Hart from a
:21:50. > :21:55.similar fate. I have tried to keep the kitchen open, paying for
:21:55. > :22:00.somebody to worker there, and nobody is coming in. We are paying
:22:00. > :22:09.out wages and it is just not happening any more and we have
:22:09. > :22:19.decided that we have to close our kitchen. All but is left is for the
:22:19. > :22:25.rain to say goodbye to her cook, Amanda. -- Lorraine. This is the
:22:25. > :22:35.final day of cooking. Everything is cleared away. Very sad. Thank you,
:22:35. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:50.Amanda. No problem. A very sad day. 20 odd years. Seeing landlords come
:22:50. > :22:51.
:22:51. > :22:58.and go. It is just sad, really. What can you do? But at least we
:22:58. > :23:04.went out on a good note with the environmental health. Four points
:23:04. > :23:13.out of five for our kitchen. It is your livelihood, your home, your
:23:13. > :23:18.business, everything. 24/7. It is all going away. Sign of the times.
:23:18. > :23:28.And everywhere you look there is pubs and boarded up, and you just
:23:28. > :23:32.
:23:32. > :23:37.hope that yours will not be the next one. But who knows? Back in
:23:37. > :23:47.Porth, Tina's self-imposed three- month deadline has run out, as has
:23:47. > :23:48.
:23:48. > :23:53.her �50,000. The earth is the big fat one. A lot of people have been
:23:53. > :24:01.asking when it is opening. I can't ever give a straight answer because
:24:01. > :24:10.I don't know myself. What is around the corner? Hopefully not an
:24:10. > :24:18.electric shock. To cover her costs, Tina has returned to her a karaoke
:24:18. > :24:25.band -- bar in Spain. But now she needs a music licence. It has to be
:24:25. > :24:35.so that next door can't hear the music in this venue. Lift off. I
:24:35. > :24:45.hope I can do it right. There is no sound for some reason. I am going
:24:45. > :24:51.
:24:51. > :25:01.to phone Scott, a DJ in Spain. The box from the computer goes into
:25:01. > :25:13.
:25:13. > :25:20.the electric. Hang on. Mark! Thank you. I have left to the box
:25:20. > :25:26.that I need in Spain, so it is not going to happen. I know where it is,
:25:26. > :25:31.it is on the floor. The following morning, Tina heads for Cardiff
:25:31. > :25:36.airport and a flight to Spain. not looking forward to going to
:25:36. > :25:41.Spain. People probably think I have one hell of a good life but I
:25:41. > :25:48.really don't want to leave Wales mack and go back to Spain. On the
:25:48. > :25:55.other hand, I might have to go year after year until the recession is
:25:55. > :26:00.over. 0 will probably be in a Zimmer Frame by then. While she
:26:00. > :26:08.head backs to Spain, the gateway will be in limbo until the leaves
:26:08. > :26:18.of autumn begin to fall. The Mile End has been boarded up for weeks
:26:18. > :26:22.
:26:22. > :26:27.but wrong can't resist one final visit. -- wrong. -- and Ron.
:26:27. > :26:37.boarded up. I don't like to see it like this. Not after all the years
:26:37. > :26:41.
:26:41. > :26:45.I spent here. But it is time. Sad. Despite the loss of the Mile End,
:26:45. > :26:52.rum and the regulars have managed to preserve a part of what it meant
:26:52. > :26:58.to them. Three or four times they are here in the conservatory and
:26:58. > :27:08.they chat and have a glass of beer or whatever. They miss the
:27:08. > :27:11.
:27:11. > :27:17.camaraderie of the pub so instead I can't picture everybody
:27:17. > :27:26.thoroughly enjoying themselves at a Tesco off-licence counter. It
:27:26. > :27:32.doesn't make sense to me. To me, the younger generation don't have
:27:32. > :27:37.the fun we used to have. Irrespective of the pub you go to,
:27:37. > :27:47.you might have the same people, but it will never be the same as what
:27:47. > :27:57.
:27:57. > :28:04.Next week, teenager returns to yet another catastrophe. Sorry, I will
:28:04. > :28:11.be there now. Lorraine calls in the cavalry in the form of a pub
:28:11. > :28:17.consultant. The chances of survival are bleak. And a struggling City