‘Save the Six Bells’ Community Project Peterstone Wentlooge
The former Six Bells public house has become a campaign focus for the residents of Peterstone Wentlooge and the wider community. Situated on the Wentlooge/Gwent Levels the building, bought by a developer, has become an eyesore as plans for demolition and new housing have not passed local authority planning approval.
Fed up with looking at a site that is falling apart and unkempt and having a negative impact on resident’s well-being and social cohesion, a few have organised themselves and set about obtaining the property as a Community Asset.
The group have created The Peterstone Wentlooge Community Benefit Society Limited to raise funds to purchase the site. The ambition is to create an energy efficient community amenity within the ‘Six Bells’, to improve social cohesion, quality of life and appreciation of the local environment for local villagers and the wider community. This is a project aspiring to create community and environmental regeneration of the western Gwent Levels. The plan is to create a multi-use hub containing a daytime cafe, farm shop, pub with home cooked food and an information/education centre. There is no such centre on the Wentlooge Levels.
The Six Bells dates from around the 16th century; formerly almshouses before becoming a public house; it is ideally situated adjacent to the B4239 coast road, within 10 minutes walk from the Wales Coastal Path and opposite the historic church of St. Peters.
Contained within the Rumney and Peterstone SSSI, which is also a landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest in Wales (CADW), a Special Protection Area, a Special area of Conservation, and adjacent to the Severn Estuary RAMSAR site; the information hub has the exciting potential to educate and inform visitors about this special area.