The friendly pub manager is offering meals for 50p to locals struggling with the cost of living crisis

Chris Jones, from Llwnypia, Wales, said the pub is on the cusp of breakeven and needs to pay its own bills more than ever as surges continue to mount

A kindhearted pub boss is offering meals for 50p to locals struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Chris Jones, landlord at the Ivor Hael Hotel, Llwnypia, Wales, brought the scheme up after hearing from struggling regulars about their electricity bills rising.

Bar staff say they want to “give back to a community that has done so much for us”.

Chris said the pub is in the process of breaking even and needs to pay its own bills more than ever.

He said Wales Onlinehis ethos has always been community over profit.

The 32-year-old says: “We’ve always done community stuff for the last ten years.

“Every Christmas we make 500 or 600 lunches for people who are struggling.

“We always try to give back where we can.”

“We are now managing to get back to normal post Covid and we are able to pay staff wages and leave the lights on so we are able to help the people of the area.

“Last week one of the regulars came into the pub and they started explaining to one of the staff how they were really struggling.

“We gave them some free food and started talking about it. More and more people come in and say similar things.

“We could never commit to doing it for free, but we knew we wanted to do something that could make a difference.”

On social media, Chris posted about the program this week, explaining that they would be serving spaghetti bolognese, sausage and puree, shepherd’s pie, sausage casserole and chicken curry from 50p to 80p for those with a voucher from the local food bank.

He said they would be served frozen so people could take them home.

The post was shared more than 2,000 times.

“It was the least we could do,” Chris said.

“I saw something the other day about a friend’s electricity bill going from £90 a month to £300 a month. I see it all the time on Facebook.

“I know a woman who literally sells her clothes to pay for her children’s meals. It’s crazy.

“We should not forget that we could not do this unless we were also busy.

“The fact that our customers have always supported us and that we are busy makes it possible for us to do things like this.”

Pub manager Rob James, who has worked at the Ivor for eight years, said: “I think it’s a brilliant initiative.

“The community here has done so much for us during Covid to support us and get us through.

“Of course we had a government scholarship, but it was really a drop in the bucket.

“We might not be here without the support of local people, so we wanted to give back to a community that has done so much for us.”

Rob, also “born and raised” in the area, described Llwnypia as “an extremely tight-knit community where people feel an obligation to look out for one another”.

“It’s heartbreaking to see that people who used to come here two or three times a week can now come every two weeks,” he said.

“People are so worried here. It’s what people talk about all the time.

“Some are addicted to the budgeting apps and always seem to be watching how much they are spending. I think we knew we had to do something.”