A GILWERN landlady has decided to quit the trade after having to get another job to keep her struggling pub afloat.

Julie Morgan, 54, said the situation has become so bad she jokes with customers at the Bridgend Inn that the pub is her hobby as she no longer sees it as a viable business.

Ms Morgan ran another Gilwern pub, The Navigation Inn, between 2000 and 2003 before taking on the Bridgend Inn with daughters Leanne, 28, and Sarah, 24, three years ago.

But she said rising costs have squeezed them to breaking-point.

Five years ago a barrel of beer – from which you get around 72 pints – cost around £130 and today it is between £183 and £200.

Ms Morgan said: “The running costs of the pub are around £3,000 a week and we are simply not making that. I’ve taken a fulltime job driving buses to keep us afloat, and it’s so bad I joke with the customers that the pub is my hobby.”

The pub has a prominent position on the Brecon to Monmouthshire canal, and even though it attracts around 100 customers at the weekend it still struggles to break even.

Ms Morgan added: “The customers are marvellous, but they only have so much money.

“We can’t compete against cheap supermarket prices, especially during the recession and with the brewery putting the price up for us all the time.” She said she has given the brewery notice and will leave at the end of the year.