Bar Trek

To celebrate the release of the new Star Trek movie we're holding a Star Trek fancy dress party at The Vulcan!

There'll be a cracking prize for the best fancy dress outfit!

Save the Vulcan t-shirts will of course be on sale too!

Spread the word!

Date: 08 May 2009
Time: 20:00 - 23:00
Location: The Vulcan Hotel
Street: Adam Street
Town/City: Cardiff, United Kingdom

Template email and who to send it to...

Update
A new three year lease has been agreed for the Vulcan, so no need to write in for the time being.

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Here is the template letter taken from the R.A.T.S website:

Dear Sir,

The Vulcan, one of Cardiff's oldest and most well-loved pubs, is under threat of demolition because of the original St Davids 2 Masterplan and the commitment to provide 500 parking spaces on the Adam Street site.

I understand that St Davids 2 representatives attended a meeting last week with developer Derek Rapport, the local AM and MP, the Heritage Minister and others.

I also understand that a potential line of action is for the local developer and now owner of The Vulcan Derek Rapport, to propose a reduced number of parking spaces (the existing 450) on the Adam Street site.

In order for this to be successful and save The Vulcan, St Davids 2 and the John Lewis Partnership must agree to it. I am therefore writing to urge you to agree with the proposals for fewer parking spaces on the Adam Street site.

This will let The Vulcan survive and flourish where it has been for 156 years - at the heart of Cardiff.

St Davids 2 cannot and must not sacrifice over 150 years of local history for a mere 50 parking spaces.

5000 people signed our petition to save The Vulcan, around 150 people attended a public meeting on the issue in February, and we have the support of one third of all Assembly Members, plus the leader and deputy leader of Cardiff Council.

Please tell me that you will accept 50 fewer parking spaces on the Adam Street site and thereby save The Vulcan for future generations to enjoy.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

And here is who to send it to:

Neil.Carron@landsecurities.com (St Davids 2, was at the meeting of bigwigs)

Richard.Akers@landsecurities.com (St Davids 2, MD of Retail)

Andrew.Dudley@landsecurities.com (St Davids 2 Project Director)

Jamie.Payne@landsecurities.com (St Davids 2 Project Manager)

Norman.White@landsecurities.com (St Davids 2 Deputy Project Director)

You can also write to the Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones, urging him to list the building - (he has powers independent of CADW to list things).

His contact details are:

e-mail: alunffred.jones@wales.gov.uk.

And a couple of media contacts:

The Western Mail (readers@mediawales.co.uk)

The South Wales Echo (ecletters@mediawales.co.uk)

Family Heritage

A great comment left by Dave the Brewer today that I think deserves bumping up to the top of the blog:

My grandparents ran this pub in the early 1950's...please don't destroy the pub my Mum left to give birth to me in 1952!

Jenny Willott MP on the Vulcan

Glamorgan student Katy Blake asked Jenny Willott MP why she thinks saving the Vulcan is important:

Used with permission of Adamsdownhere.co.uk

Save the Vulcan on Twitter

You can now follow the campaign on Twitter - should you want to...

Advertising

After running it by the team I decided to include some Google advertising on the blog with the hope of possibly raising a little money for the campaign. What do you think about this? Are the ads appropriate/tasteful? If you have any thoughts/concerns please get in touch.

Pub of the Month!

The Vulcan has the honour of being voted the Pub of the Month for the second month running by the Real Ale Tasting Society - R.A.T.S.

They also have a brilliant page dedicated to the Vulcan on their website with an extensive collection of contact details of people to write to, as well as an excellent, ready to send email - just add your name and it's good to go.

There are also some nice photos of the demonstration at the Senedd back in February on their homepage.

Orion IV

On Monday 16th March drinkers at the Vulcan were treated to an evening of live music by Cardiff based string quartet Orion IV. They played an eclectic mix of music spanning the years from when the pub was built in 1853 to the present day.

Glamorgan University student Nick Jones went along to find out more.

Audio used with permission of Adamsdownhere.co.uk.

Plaid Conference

A message from Rachel:

Hi guys,

We have a Save the Vulcan stall at Plaid's conference this Friday and Saturday.

If you can help out manning the stall, handing out leaflets etc, that'd be grand - please get in touch. Even a couple of hours help would be fantastic!The conference is Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th April at UWIC Llandaff. For a map click here.

This will be a great opportunity to raise the profile of the campaign and lobby some politicians about our cause.

For info please email us.

Thanks!

Welsh Wanders

Guardian Travel in partnership with Visit Wales recently visited the Vulcan as part of their Welsh Wanders series.

From the website:

John Williams, author and founder of the Laugharne festival, and award-winning author Rachel Trezise discuss Welsh literary heritage in Cardiff's threatened Vulcan pub - which has a great literary tradition itself.

See the slide show and listen to John and Rachel discuss literature and the Vulcan here.