A RURAL pub has been put on the market £165,000 as its owner has decided to sell after two decades.

Merfyn Parry, who is the county councillor for Llandyrnog, shut The Golden Lion in the village on January 6 after his tenant wanted to spend more time with his young family.

Mr Parry, who ran the pub before letting it out in 2014, said the pub has been “a way of life” but he now has too many commitments to run the establishment himself.

It marks the second pub in Denbighshire to close in 2020 after The Crown Hotel in Llandegla shut due to a lack of business. Its owners said “the village and local areas do not wish to support us”.

The pubs join a long list of rural closures in the UK over the last decade amid cheaper alcohol prices and stricter drink driving regulations.

However Mr Parry said the Llandyrnog pub is “very well supported by the locals” and “could still be a good business for someone who wanted to live and work the pub themselves”.

“I have owned the Golden Lion since 1998, refurbished and reopened it in 1999,” said Mr Parry. “I ran it for 16 years and it has since had three tenants. If you have never run a pub before it can be more work than you might think.

“If it continues to be a pub I will be over the moon; I would be sad if it was to close permanently.”

Mr Parry, whose wife Hilary Wilcox runs The White Horse restaurant in Llandyrnog, said the closure could be a blow for the village which has already lost its shop.

“I would like as much as anyone to see the pub in new ownership and run as a local pub,” he added.

Mr Parry said he has “fantastic memories” from his ownership, notably the launch the annual Route 76 Bus Route beer festival in 2008, which attracts more than 2,000 people.

The Golden Lion is being marketed by Denbigh estate agents Jones & Peckover, which describes the two-bedroom property as “an excellent opportunity for a discerning purchaser to acquire not only an established and profitable business but also a change of lifestyle”.

The revamped 19th century property includes a lounge bar, open fireplace, large sports bar and pool room, seating areas and a decked garden.

Jones & Peckover says the pub is a “successful and thriving business with versatility and further potential”.