Dyfodol Salem
Memorial Hall Project
March 2026
Architects Appointed for Hall Extension!
We are celebrating an important milestone for our project to improve and extend Salem Memorial Hall following the loss of the only village pub several years ago.
A grant of £20,400, awarded by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Targeted Finance Fund, has enabled Salem Hall Committee and Salem Gâr Ltd to appoint architects to draw up a vision and plans and drawings of the improved and enlarged community space.
The project has been awarded to acclaimed Carmarthen-based architectural practice Rural Office – who have extensive experience with community projects, including nearby Brynamman Lido, and nationally as the architects for the development of the National Slate Museum at Llanberis.
Shaped by the Community
The funding also enables us to deliver a community event this Summer, led by the architects, ensuring the project and vision for the new, flexible space reflects the community’s needs. This follows extensive consultation over the past 2 years through workshops, surveys and members of the project team attending community events like the Salem Community cafe and nearby Cwmdu Beer Festival.
What’s it all about?
After serving the community for over 150 years, Salem’s historic Angel Inn closed its doors in July 2022. The Angel was the heart of our village, and its closure was devastating for the community. We ran a really positive campaign to try and save it - our community consultation demonstrated firm support for a community pub, and our share pledge campaign raised over £27,000 in its first 3 weeks - but factors outside our control meant it was not to be.
This new project is born out of the campaign to save the Angel, and the desire of the community to come together and bring the life back to our village.
Through the Heol-galed Memorial Hall charitable trust, the village already owns a thriving community hall and field - so we've formed a working group and are developing a vision for extending the community facilities on that site.
Improved facilities could offer affordable food and drink, a cafe or social club and wi fi daytime space, with a small shop, parcel collection and improved space for clubs and societies to meet and socialise. It could provide a tourism offer, jobs for local people and a warm space for us all to connect, meet old friends and make new ones. There are lots of examples where this works well elsewhere in Carmarthenshire and across Wales.
We want to know what you think - and need your input to shape our vision.
Our aim is that the improved community facilities will create jobs and volunteer opportunities, strengthen community cohesion and resilience, provide affordable food and drink, attract tourists to stay, eat and drink, and create a vibrant community space for all.
What’s the plan?
Working with Cwmpas (social business experts) we formed a new community organisation in January 2024, with volunteers from the village and outlying areas.
We ran a consultation in Autumn 2024 to help us understand what people want and need, how much support we have, and to use as evidence in any grant funding applications. We were then awarded a grant to undertake bilingual consultation workshops and a Feasibility Study through the Welsh Government Perthyn scheme. Following that we’ve been putting on a series of events including a community cafe and live music - to bring the community together and ensure we understand the needs of the Hall users now and in the future.
In March 2026 we were awarded £20,400 by Carmarthenshire Council to enable us to engage an architect to prepare our vision and plans and drawings of the improved and extended Hall, and hold a workshop with the community in the Summer.
The next stage is to apply for planning permission and prepare a big grant application for the construction phase.
In November 2024 we were awarded a grant from Welsh Government to develop our project.
Welsh Government Project
In November 2024 we were awarded £9,600 grant aid from Welsh Government under the Perthyn grant scheme, to enable us to engage consultants (Miller Research) to help us with the Feasibility stage of the project. They met with the community, analysed the results of our consultation, spoke to key stakeholders, and produced an Options Appraisal for us, to use as evidence to demonstrate community needs - through the planning process, and as evidence for funders.
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“During the Covid pandemic the Angel played an incredibly important role as a community food hwb - distributing food for donations and takeaway meals as a vital resource for those without transport, shielding, and the elderly. For all of us who volunteered or used the hwb it was a lifeline. It connected the village at a time of crisis. This project is born out of that experience, and the desire of the village not to lose that vital resource. We need a social space open to all - enabling us to come together, to feel good, and to do good things.”
Food hwb volunteer.
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