Busy first month for restaurant with rooms employing six apprentices

A high quality restaurant with rooms which is developing its own staff team in a historic Mid Wales market town has reported a busy first month.

Chartists 1770 at The Trewythen, located at the former Trewythen Hotel in Llanidloes, has created 16 full and part-time jobs, including six apprenticeships, as part of a £250,000 investment in the new business.

The restaurant with rooms is owned by Cambrian Training Company, leading apprenticeship provider to the hospitality industry in Wales, who are hoping to develop a business template that could possibly be used in other towns in the future.

Faced with a UK-wide recruitment crisis in the hospitality industry, Chartists 1770 at The Trewythen is utilising apprenticeships to grow its own staff guided by experienced team members, including executive hotel manager is Jo Davies and her husband, Nick, the executive head chef.

The apprentices are working towards Foundation Apprenticeships and Apprenticeships in licensed hospitality services, food production and cookery and cleaning supervision skills, which are delivered by Cambrian Training Company for the Welsh Government.

The new business is located in a Grade ll listed Georgian building which has been transformed into a restaurant with seven, refurbished, en suite bedrooms, each with free Wifi, flat-screen digital TV, tea and coffee making facilities and a range of toiletries. Large, family rooms accommodate up to five people. Bookings can be made at www.trewythenhotel.wales .

The restaurant, which offers “a dining experience” with table service, has 50 covers including four outdoor dining pods, each with a table for six. The focus is on fresh, seasonal ingredients and drinks from Wales.

The hotel is welcoming bookings and already has some guests booked in for 2022. The restaurant is especially busy, with customers enjoying the outdoor dining pod experience, with steaks and fresh fish proving menu favourites.

Cambrian Training Company’s managing director Arwyn Watkins, OBE, said: “I am delighted to report that the opening of our new business, Chartists 1770 at The Trewythen, has been very well received and I would like to thank the local community and visitors alike for their support.

“We are at that start of the business journey and are taking a cautious approach because of the lack of an available workforce and the need to develop staff with hospitality skills.

“We are trying to showcase how good a career in the hospitality industry can be and what opportunities there are locally. Unfortunately, there are currently not enough people who consider hospitality as a rewarding career which is something we in the industry must change.

“For the next 18 months, our apprentices will get a really good grounding and opportunity to learn and demonstrate their skills and hopefully progress. There is nothing to stop them learning at The Trewythen and then progressing within our network or maybe seeking other future opportunities within the business.”

Chartists 1770 at The Trewythen is keen to play its part in establishing Llanidloes, the first town on the River Severn, as a popular tourist destination, at the gateway to the Cambrian Mountains.