Penarth Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We will be profiling some of these businesses and organisations in a feature called 'Up Close in Penarth'.

Today we spoke with Natasha Rees, who recently took the helm at St Fagan's pub.

"Topsy-turvy" perhaps inadequately describes the chaos of the last few months. But it is fair to say that in July, the Rees family's life was turned upside down.

They were informed that the Station - the Windsor Road pub they had run successfully since April 2017 - was one of the 40 pubs Brain Brewery was letting go due to COVID-19.

Gareth, Natasha and their two young boys were given four weeks to sort out their affairs and vacate the pub that had been their home and workplace for three "perfect years."

"It was horrible," said Natasha. "The Station was our lives and it was sold from underneath us. We came out thinking we would have no chance of finding another pub in Penarth."

But Nub News can today report that they have done just that, against all the odds. Natasha is confident that they will pour their first pint at St Fagan's on Glebe Street next week.

"It's been such a whirlwind. First we had to find somewhere to live in that four-week period, which isn't easy. Then we thought we'd take a break for a couple of months before things died down, but all of a sudden we hear that St Fagan's landlord was leaving.

"I'm from Penarth and this is where the children are growing up. So we spoke to the landlord and then the brewery and on Monday we secured the pub."

It is of course an immensely difficult time to be taking over a pub. Pub footfall had already been in decline for many years prior to 2020, a year when this trend thas been dramatically accelerated by COVID. Lockdown has already seen the permanent closure of at least 315 pubs nationwide.

This has been compounded by the Welsh Government's decision to prevent venues selling alcohol after 10PM in order to curb a second wave.

Natasha is confident that the loyalty of her Station regulars will see them through this tough period.

"We've just got to get through the next six months and stick together. We were going to be open till 1ish, so we are going to be really affected the 10 o'clock rule. But we've just got to rally together.

"What we had at the Station was special. Speak to anyone and they'll say they were devastated. Not just for us, but for the community you know. The Station really was the heart of the community."

"Now our job is to bring that over to St Fagan's. The support we've had already has been amazing and we know our old customers will follow us over, although we don't really call them customers; they're more like family."

When I met Natasha, she and her husband were hard at work preparing the pub for opening. She says it's important that they are able to make the pub their own.

"We were umming and aahing because St Fagan's wasn't necessarily our first choice. But we love Penarth and have had so much support that we're ready to make it our own. It's going to be fantastic."