Carmarthen11 Mansel Street
Let's reopen The Warren together.
A community experiment to reopen The Warren and build a secure future for what it stands for.
Our storyIn Deri's words
Nine years ago I bought 11 Mansel Street.
A crowd funder raised more than £20,000 and we opened The Warren.
What followed was nine years of it. Awards from The Good Food Guide's 100 Best Local Restaurants, a community kitchen, an allotment project all topped off with the "Community Food Hero" from the BBC Food & Farming awards!
Then I was burnt out, and I put The Warren into hibernation.
That was nearly a year ago. I have had time to stop, recover and think, and I am ready to come back to it differently. This time alongside the community that helped me build it.
The aim is not to reopen a restaurant. It is to work out how to protect The Warren, what it stands for and the people it serves, for longer than one person can manage alone.
This is a pilot. It exists to test the idea, develop the plan and find out whether the support is really there. Every penny of profit from the pilot goes into forming the community company, and we will publish what comes in and what goes out from the start.
What is onCarmarthen
Ten years, and a night to mark it.
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Saturday 12 September
The Warren’s 10th Birthday
Ten years to the season since a shuttered unit on Mansel Street became The Warren. One night, back in the room, to mark it properly and to show what the building could be next. Tickets through Ticket Tailor.
Buy tickets
More nights are coming, and the newsletter hears first. Join the newsletter
Backed byCarmarthen businesses
Who is behind it.
- ABS Carmarthen in kind
- Alan Davies Electrical in kind
- Chris Devon & Sons in kind
- Geoff Grigg in kind
- P D Gleeson Plumbing and Heating in kind
- Simon Jones Windows in kind
- Glasbren CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) In Kind
Already behind itBefore anyone was asked twice
This is not starting from nothing.
Twenty-two people put their names down through Deri’s journal earlier this year, before there was a plan to show them. Fourteen offered to help actually run it.
- 22have put their name down
- 14offered to help run it
- 3nights a week it could be, eventually
No names here yet, and that is not a bug. Twenty-two people have already put their names down, but they did that privately and we are not going to publish anybody without asking first. The pledge form now has a tick box for it. As people say yes, they will appear along here.
From the journalDeri, thinking out loud
The thinking behind it.
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16 May 2026
Is There Another Way Forward for The Warren?
Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking deeply about the future of The Warren. To be honest, I don’t think I can go back to running it in the way I used to. For a long time, I carried most of the…
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4 April 2026
A Trip to Stroud: Sitting at the Long Table
Last weekend I made a trip I’ve been meaning to take for a long time. Stroud. A place that’s come up in conversations again and again over the years, usually with a certain kind of reverence. This time I…
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22 March 2026
Fermented Wild Garlic
Hey friends, the season is in swing, here the recipe I used for mine! Let me know how you get on! Happy fermenting! Recipe: Simple 2% ferment (no fuss, no waste) You’ll need: • Wild garlic leaves • Fine sea…