Hollywood star helps reopen rescued village pub

Hollywood star Matthew Rhys said he "leapt at the chance" to help save a pub in the Welsh village where his family have roots.

The award-winning actor said it was a "no brainer" to support the Glan yr Afon, also known as the Riverside, in Pennal, Gwynedd, as his father was from the area.

Cardiff-born Rhys, who recalled spending "many summers and Easters" in the village, helped with the pub's official opening on Saturday.

"A number of my halcyon days as a youth were spent at the Riverside," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

He threw his weight behind a £450,000 campaign by locals to take on the historic pub and turn it into a community-run business.

They reached their goal in December 2022 and it reopened in February.

Rhys said the pub was at the centre of village life despite it being an "age-old adage and cliché" to say that at the "hub of every Welsh community is a pub and a chapel".

"Thankfully, because of this incredible committee, it will remain so for the future," said Rhys, who won an Emmy for his role in FX-made spy drama The Americans.

"The community have now taken back control of the pub.

"It was either threatened with closure or being sold on or worse still, possibly becoming derelict."