Christmas is cancelled!

Christmas has been cancelled for two popular Welshpool events that have been an annual feature for the National Milk Bar, which will close on October 31 if a buyer is not found.

The annual Pensioners Party and a Christmas Party for the Partially Blind have been cancelled as uncertainty surrounds the popular business which was Welshpool’s only café back in the 1960’s.

And for manageress Helen Kite it could bring an end to a working relationship that stretches back 28 years.

“It has been a big part of my life since I started washing dishes at the Newtown Milk Bar when I was 15,” she said. “There is a lot of uncertainty at the moment and one of the first things we had to do unfortunately was cancel the two Christmas parties, which was a real shame. If it does close Welshpool will lose a big part of its community because it is a very good local business. Hopefully, if it is bought, the new owner will see that there is an excellent and hard working team in place to carry on running it as a café.”

The National Milk Bar’s 10 staff were handed their redundancy notices last Monday, just three months after the chain’s Llanidloes café closed. The freehold for the building is being sold through Halls.

The National Milk Bar chain was created by Forden farmer, Willie Griffiths, in 1933, when produce from his 500-acre farm was used for the first to open in Colwyn Bay. He went on to open 17 across Mid and North Wales and even ventured into England where the Beatles frequented its Liverpool branch.

Mywelshpool contacted the National Milk Bar’s owners, Woodlands, who are based in Forden, but a media statement was not available.