Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has at last begun the search for a new cafe and visitor’s centre operator at Coed y Brenin, more than three months after it closed the venue for cost cutting purposes. 

NRW is now looking for “viable partners, community groups and businesses” to run the facilities at Coed y Brenin and also-closed Bwlch Nant yr Arian, neither of which will be open until April 2026 at the earliest. That means mountain bikers will have been without their much-deserved bacon butties and post-ride cuppas for more than a year by the time the doors open again.

Coed y Brenin visitor’s centre is currently closed while NRW looks for a new company or group to run it

Last year we reported how, after a year of speculation, the Coed y Brenin visitor’s centre would close to mountain bikers. NRW, which operates the site and Bwlch Nant yr Arian, has blamed the closure on its cost cutting drive in an effort to save £12 million by 2025-2026. 

The fear from local riders and community groups was that the trails around the centres would also suffer and that NRW would also cut maintenance funding, potentially leading to closures. NRW has committed to “maintain our sites to ensure public access continues,” which presumably means repairing trails.

Let’s hope not

We’ve long questioned why the process of putting the centres out to tender couldn’t have started months earlier, with Robin Grant from the UK MTB Trail Alliance labelling it “appalling”. 

“Realistically, it will take some months for the cafe to reopen once the contract has been awarded, meaning we’ll be well into what used to be the peak summer period [2026] before it opens to the public again,” he said.

Robin Grant from UK MTB Trail Alliance is appalled the process has been subject to such delay

“It’s appalling that although the formal decision to close Coed Y Brenin’s cafe and visitor centre was made in November 2024, and planned for many months before that, a contract won’t be awarded to the new operator of the cafe until the end of April 2026 at the earliest.”

Community group Caru Coed y Brenin, set up to try and improve the famous riding venue, is also unsure why new operators can’t be found sooner. 

“We still cannot fathom why this process wasn’t started immediately ahead of the first sign of potential closure, the cost savings gained from the closure cannot have been significant enough to justify the disruption and anguish that has been caused,” Rhys Llewelyn said.

Coed y Brenin at its best, and most beautiful, is definitely worth fighting for

He also said Caru Coed y Brenin was pleased the process had begun, and “we will welcome the opportunity to meet with the staff to discuss the best possible outcome for the future development.”

NRW explained the slow process was needed to “avoid confusion and any potential issues” and that “This includes focusing on finding long-term, sustainable partners who benefit local communities and enhance tourism”.

As things stand, all trails at Coed y Brenin and Bwlch Nant yr Arian are open, as are the loos and the car parks. Bike shops Beics Brenin and Pedal MTB Ltd are also still there to sort your mechanicals.

Coed y Brenin’s visitor’s centre is now closed, NRW plans to lease out the venue to commercial contractors or local groups

The great hope is still that a community group like Caru would be allowed to run the visitor’s centre, which would make the site work in the interests of local user groups – chiefly, mountain bikers, walkers and anyone who appreciates green spaces.

NRW has said it will look at proposals from such organisations, but there’s nervousness from some that they won’t be picked. “NRW needs to properly consider local community groups as candidate partners to take on the running of these centres, and to make allowances for the fact they’ll be entities without any trading history, Robin Grant said. “They should not be expected to meet the same criteria that NRW would expect of a normal commercial partner.”

The exercise to tender is being managed through the Sell2Wales procurement portal set up by the Welsh Government and interested parties can sign up to the platform in advance. There are also more details at NRW’s consultation hub which is updated with the latest information when it becomes available.