Locals call time on pub named Nye

Aneurin Bevan was revered as "the father of the NHS"

A pub chain has scrapped plans to name its latest Welsh bar after the founder of the National Health Service - after a torrent of complaints.

JD Wetherspoon had hoped to remember the late MP and health minister Aneurin Bevan - dubbed "the father of the NHS" - by naming a pub in his honour.

But when their intentions were revealed, councillors in the south Wales town of Tredegar were furious - claiming it was inappropriate to link his name with a place selling alcohol.

Bevan's name already lives on in the town

The drinks chain eventually changed its mind after new figures published by the World Health Organisation revealed that alcohol played a part in one in every eight deaths of young men in the UK.

'Genius'

Others in the town considered the idea unsuitable for different reasons.

Labour councillor Alan Fox said naming the pub after Bevan was a "cheap shot".

Mr Fox, 65, said: "Nye was a genius and we felt naming a pub after him was not appropriate.

New name

"He liked a drink but his reputation was made founding the NHS - not as a hard drinker."

But a name for the new pub - due to open in July - has now been found. It will be called the Olympia - after the former cinema which used to stand on the site.

A spokesman for Wetherspoon's - which has 473 pubs nationwide, said: "The company has always said it would listen to people's views before making a firm choice for the name.

"We will have photographs and a biography of Aneurin Bevan inside the pub, so we will have the best of both worlds."

There are already two buildings in Tredegar bearing the name of its famous son - a home for the elderly and a community trust.