IN an effort to save one of Wales' most famous hotels, a £500,000 appeal has been launched to transform it into a community enterprise.

The Owain Glyndwr Hotel – the site of the first National Eisteddfod - stands on Corwen’s London Road, the historic A5 from London to Holyhead, which has carried Roman Legions, horse-drawn mail coaches, Irish MPs and holidaymakers for almost 2,000 years.

The Corwen Partnership has been formed to raise enough money from a share issue to buy the Grade II-listed building in the town centre and invest a further £200,000 in updating the property.

In a race against time they are issuing a plea to local people to snap up the 2,500 £200 shares and save the building by the deadline for the sale on July 1.

The hotel is one of just eight remaining coaching inns on the A5 and owner and local man Ifor Sion, who has kept the hotel going for the past 25 years and backs the plans, is offering it for a knockdown £300,000.

The partnership has the support of Corwen Town Council, Cadwyn Clwyd, South Denbighshire Community Partnership and many local businesses and stakeholders in its aims to deliver the property into community ownership.

READ MORE: Owain Glyndŵr Day was held in Corwen once more

Partnership chair and local resident David Counsell leads the group, which plans to launch its appeal with the share issue at five days of events on St David’s Day and he said: “The big driver for us is seeing what’s happened to similar hotels which have ended up boarded up and derelict.

“It would be an absolute disaster for the town if that happened to the OG as it is affectionately known. Corwen has suffered badly in recent years with local pubs and businesses closing.

“We hope that by buying the hotel as a community, we can reverse this trend, turn it into a popular destination again, and with the imminent return of the Llangollen and Corwen Railway, we will be able to welcome more visitors and put Corwen back on the map.”

The group plans to launch its appeal with a share issue during five days of community events at the hotel, starting on St David’s Day – Wednesday, March 1.

These will include activities and entertainment aimed at engaging with local people, businesses, sports clubs and organisations to promote the building and share ideas for its future.

The partnership has set up the Owain Glyndwr Community Hotel Ltd as a Community Benefit Society and is to issue half-a-million pounds in £200 shares, with a maximum stake holding of £50,000.

One vote is allocated to each shareholder, irrespective of the number of shares.

The rear of the hotel dates back to 1329, so it is therefore likely that Owain Glyndwr, born five miles east in Glyndyfrdwy in 1354, could indeed have passed or even entered the building.

According to local historian and partnership member Dylan Jones, by the 18th century the building was referred to as the New Inn and the frontage dates from the early 1700s but by 1824 it was advertised as the Owen Glendower Hotel and owned by Francis Clarke.

In 1789 the inn was the site of the first public eisteddfod, the brainchild of local man Thomas Jones with the approval of the Gwyneddigion Society, a cultural group of Welsh exiles living in London.

Dylan said: “The Eisteddfod was not without controversy, with the organiser tipping off one of the competing poets, giving him the subject of the prose prior to the competition.

“The favourite, Gwallter Mechain, won, of course, much to the disgust of all other competitors, including the celebrated Twm o’r Nant, and accusations of cheating nearly lead to a dual between supporters, one of whom was Captain Cook’s surgeon, David Samwell, from Nantglyn, Twm’s sponsor.”

For more information on the Owain Glyndwr Hotel and the campaign to save it go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/597758811573323