A pub licensee in Machynlleth has a sweetheart deal with the town council to exclusively supply bar services at Y Plas – a deal that includes no end date, no ability for the council to get out of and only which he can apparently change.

The contract has been in place for 15 years, meaning licensee Lee Roberts has had exclusive rights to operate the bar at Y Plas. And, according to the town council’s own records, the deal is in perpetuity.

In effect, on weekends when thousands flock to the town for the comedy festival or El Sueno Existe, and its bars are jammed, the return on the contract is a mere pittance.

According to the town council’s figures, it earns about £75,000 on property and equipment hire, stall and hall fees – but just £400 in bar bookings. Since the deal was signed in 2010, the bar fee was raised once, in 2022, from £25 to £30.

The town council has been accused of mismanaging assets, and a complaint has been made to the Public Services Ombudsman about the Y Plas bar contract.

That complaint says: “The contract for the bar has been held by a local license holder since 2010. Under this contract, the licence holder pays £30 to the council every time they run the bar and retains all other income generated…

“I found out recently that in May [2024], a motion to the Machynlleth Town Council was made regarding the possibility of using the bar occasionally for fundraising events to raise money for the local community.

“The proposal, by Councillor [Kim] Bryan and Geoff Hill (a local license holder), sought to allow the community to benefit financially from the use of the events hall on occasions whilst also generating income for the council by increasing the percentage paid to the council for use of the bar.

“Proposals for the use of the money include maintaining public services such as public toilets. The proposal was designed to be inclusive, allowing the current agreement to continue while also creating an additional revenue stream for the council.”

The complaint says that the town sought legal advice from a solicitor, “who deemed that the one-page contract was irrefutable” and as such, has buried the subject.

“The council has failed to answer whether the community can, on occasion, use the bar, instead, as far as we understand, there is no opportunity to review the contract and open up the possibility for more competitive tenders,” the complaint says.

The issue of the bar contract was raised in a closed-door confidential session at the town.

Cllr Bryan was subsequently thrown out of the Skinners Arms, a pub run by Mr Roberts, allegedly for “threatening his livelihood”.

The Cambrian News has made numerous attempts to contact Mr Roberts. These included phone calls, sending a letter to Mr Roberts' house, visiting his place of work, and messaging him over social media.

Mr Roberts has not responded to any of these requests for comment.

Machynlleth Mayor Jeremy Paige has also not answered queries from this newspaper.

Residents have also pointed to a lack of clarity around the deal - the council hasn’t responded to queries from residents, or a Freedom of Information request from the Cambrian News, until the Information Commissioner instructed the council to give up the information.

Not surprisingly, the issue of the bar contract has riled taxpayers.

Given Machynlleth residents pay the highest council tax in Powys - Band D was raised to £2550.51 per property this April, a £177.93 rise on last year - some residents and councillors are asking how this contract came to be, and why it hasn’t been reviewed for better use of a council-owned asset.

Cllr Bryan brought a proposal to the council a year ago to allow multiple license holders use of the bar for fundraisers and community events, giving access to the bar profits for a more reasonable fee.

The proposal however was “dismissed” after legal advice found that the contract, drawn up 15 years ago and not reviewed since, was “rock solid” - meaning the current license holder was the only person permitted to run the bar in perpetuity.

Cllr Bryan commented: “As a council, we have a responsibility to ensure that our assets are working for the benefit of the community, especially when our residents are paying the highest council tax rates in Powys.

“One of the most underused assets we have is the bar and events hall at Y Plas.

“These spaces have huge potential—not only as venues for social connection and cultural activity, but also as sources of much-needed income for both the council and community initiatives.

“I’ve raised this issue on several occasions, proposing that we explore the idea of a flexible, community-led bar that could operate during fundraising events and support local organisations.

“Each time, these efforts have been dismissed.

“That simply isn’t good enough.

“We owe it to the people of Machynlleth to revisit how we manage our resources and whether we’re delivering value in return for what residents are contributing.

“The recent success of pop-up community bars, such as the Hwb Cymunedol Taj Mahal Community Hub, which raised over £2,500 in a single weekend, shows just how much potential there is.

“We have the venue, we have community interest, and we have offers of support — what we need now is the council to get onboard and find a solution that works for all.”

Event organisers and community members have reported being unable to use the venue, blaming the lack of access to funds raised from the bar to make the event viable.

Between April 2022 - March 2024, the bar brought in £785 to the council.

By contrast, venues across the town raised thousands in profits across Comedy Festival weekend alone - this year, local bars reported takings of between £5,000-15,000 across the three-day weekend.

Geof Hill is a local license holder and runs the Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn as well as running and supporting events more locally. He blames the bar contract for why more large-scale events don't happen in the venue: "I wouldn't be able to run events there because it's not economic because of the bar situation. That's true of anybody.

“If you've got to rent the hall, pay for an act, pay for a PA system and lighting rig, unless you're getting at least a percentage of the bar take, it's not economic.

“It's why virtually nothing happens there that's of any size. I know the economics of running a venue, and I know how much one should make from a bar.

“The economics don't remotely add up - the town could make more money if they had a sensible bar situation,” Mr Hill said.

“My proposal was that there was a group of licensees who supported shows to happen.

“So if you were, for instance, a local charity or group that wanted to put on a gig and raise money, they would provide the staff for the bar, and one of the licensees from a group would provide their services for free, then the money could be a split, maybe 70/30 with the council - definitely make more than £25 pounds a show.

“That way, and it would mean that local charities could raise money, local people could get more entertainment, and hopefully, far, far more things would happen there."

Councillor Ann MacGarry, chair of the finance committee, refused to comment on why amendments hadn’t been pursued with the consent of the license holder, commenting: “There is nothing to be done about the bar contract.

“It was agreed about [15] years ago, so you would have to ask anyone who was around then why they agreed to it, but they are probably long gone or won't remember.

“Sorry, but that's the situation.”

Councillor Norma McCarten however wants to see a more beneficial contract agreed upon: “The legal advice was that although it is not a contract one would want these days, it was signed years ago and is good as is - the only person who can change the contents is the licensee.

“One of the difficulties that has arisen around asking if we should look at the contract is that it has created unwarranted bad feeling between the license holder and members of the council.

“A diplomatic negotiation with the license holder about particular events might be possible but it must be stressful for the license holder to be under scrutiny - I don’t believe the bar is a huge money maker by any means.

“I personally don’t think it’s a great contract - it’s too exclusive and doesn’t allow for any variations or suggest any review periods which would be normal.

“It doesn’t suggest any criteria you would expect to see in a thought-through contract with a supplier, let alone anything exclusive. “It would be lovely to be able to have a fundraiser at Y Plas with income from the bar going into the kitty.

“We always look for ways to get income into Y Plas.

“Any income helps the precept.

“But unless the license holder wishes to discuss this in a cooperative manner for the good of the town, there is no legal angle [we can take].”

This latest concern over Mach’s finances comes three years after the town council faced financial scandal - after discovering three years of missing accounts.