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An independent pub’s efforts to support its local community has seen it nominated for a national award.

The White Cross Inn, in Groeswen, near Caerphilly, is up for the Community Pub Hero Awards 2024.

The awards are organised by PubAid, a national campaign promoting pubs, with the finalists set to be announced on February 22.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the White Cross has done a number of things to help its community, including setting up a WhatsApp group for residents to stay connected.

More recently, the pub has raised £200 for Alzheimer’s charities.

White Cross owner Mair Arthur said “The pub’s got a huge heart. That doesn’t come from the person who owns it, you get that from the people who come.”

If the White Cross is successful, it won’t be the first award the pub has won in recent times. In 2022, it won the Rural Economy Award at the Caerphilly Business Club Awards, and in 2019 the Countryside Alliance crowned it the Best Pub in Wales.

The White Cross has also been a runner-up for the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Pub of the Year several times.

The pub was originally built in the 1740s, but has been in Ms Arthur’s ownership for the past 13 years.

The pub has become a community hub hosting a variety of events, including a walking group, a Sunday cheese club, and a cricket and darts team, as well as a range of event nights.

Recently, the pub was used as a filming location for a yet-to-be-released episode of Doctor Who.

Ms Arthur said “When I take a minute to think, I know I have done what I set out to do – save the pub. But I rarely say that when I talk about the pub, because without the customers there is no pub – it is teamwork. Everyday around Wales there are pubs closing. We are bucking the trend once more.”

Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, said: “So many pubs do great work in their local communities and PubAid is here to celebrate the good they do across the industry and raise awareness of all the positives pubs bring to a community.

“In the current cost-of-living crisis when communities can feel more disparate, pubs play an essential role in bringing people together and creating communities.

“They do such fantastic work raising money for charities big and small and supporting grassroots sport that we want to say thanks to them from the industry with the Community Pub Hero Awards.”