Powys pub saved by donations by regulars after tragic death

Watson’s Ale House in Knighton has been kept afloat by the donations of its regular customers after its alcohol licence expired after the tragic death of the founder and owner John Watson earlier this year.

James Carter, who is the landlord at the pub, said the issue had arisen after there was delay through the legal process with the solicitors after Mr Watson’s tragic passing.

“Basically the licensing issue was you only have 28 days from the death of a licensee to transfer to someone else’s name or else it dissolves”, said James.

“I was told it was better to do it through the solicitors, turns out this wasn’t the case.

“I got a phone call from licensing and they said “you’ve got not licence”. It can take up to two months with objections.”

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Thankfully in that time Watson’s Ale House was kept afloat by the extraordinary generosity of customers.

“We reopened to take donations,” said James. “We said if they would like to donate to staffing, lighting and you would like to make a donation you are free to do so.

“We kept the door open the best we could. All of my regular customers came in and they all paid what they would have normally paid for in beer.”

“That is how we got to keep the business afloat. The support we have had has been second to none.”

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James also credits the generous work of the licensing department at Powys County Council for helping speed up the process as much as they could.

“They shut me down on Tuesday, I was knocking on the door on Wednesday at 9am in Llandrindod Wells at the licensing office,” said James.

“We pleaded for help and that is what they did, the licensing officer said he ununderstood and got the paperwork ready that day.

“He got the payment sorted that day and stayed past the opening hours so we could all get it processed and get open as soon as possible. He went above and beyond to get us open, some of the paperwork was processed at 10 in the evening.”

The process took about a month, and part of that was covered by temporary event notices and even more support was shown by regulars at the pub.

“Customers who said if there was a hearing they would come to it and show their support the amount of people who have said that to us has been unreal," said James.

“Everyone has played so fairly, the understanding, the support has been second to none. It’s very easy when you are publican to think you are doing it on you own. Since this happened, I realised I’m not because everyone has routed for us.”

James has said he is now looking forward to building on the legacy that John made after he hired him three years ago and will remember him warmly.

“John gave me the chance to be a publican. He was an amazing man, he was little bit difficult but him, me and wife worked as trio,” said James.

“When John started Watson’s Ale House he didn’t do it for profit, he didn’t do it for gain. He wanted to do it for real ale. He wanted to sell cask conditioned real ale as it should be served, properly. It was a love affair for John, it was what he wanted.

“He’d be the first on through the door on a Sunday he’d have a bag of crisps and he’d have a half pint of every of the three to four casks we’d have on and chat through with how things were going.”