THE OWNER of a popular village pub near Aberystwyth that was badly damaged by a serious fire in February says she hopes it will be able to reopen in November.

Caitlin Morse, who had only taken over Y Ffarmers Arms pub in Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn with partner Lewis Johnston seven months previously, told the Cambrian News this week that a November reopening now seemed ‘a reasonable goal’.

“Yes, it was a major fire, but there are positives,” said the mum-of-two.

“The front wall is okay which means that the image of Y Ffarmers will remain intact.

“That’s obviously extremely important because it has been a pub since the 17th century. The rebuilding process is going pretty well, all things considered.”

She described the support they had received from the community as ‘nothing short of amazing’.

“I bought the pub because I loved the place as well as the surrounding community which I knew from when I was small,” she said.

“It’s widely used as a meeting place so everyone is really looking forward to getting their pub back!”

Caitlin disclosed that forensic examination indicated that the fire started in the flat upstairs.

“We may never know for sure but there’s reason to believe it was started by old wiring set down in the floorboards,” she said. “It was a freak of nature, bad-luck situation.”

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now