Coed y Brenin and Bwlch Nant yr Arian will close their cafes as soon as April 2025, with the last bacon butty served up to hungry mountain bikers on March 31. But in another blow for riders, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which owns and runs the visitor centres, isn’t looking for partners to take over the until after the actual closing date, guaranteeing a period of inactivity.

“It’s shocking that NRW is only planning to start the public exercise to look for partners in four and a half months time, once the visitor centres and cafes are closed, which will mean they’ll be closed for much longer than they need to be,” Robin Grant told from the UK MTB Trail Alliance told us. “There is no reason NRW couldn’t start that process now, while the visitor centres and cafes are still open.”

Famous routes like the mbr trail at Coed y Brenin are to remain open after the cafe closes, NRW has promised.

NRW says all trails, the car park, and the toilets will remain open on the site, with public meetings being held on November 25, 26 and 27 to listen to the concerns of riders and local interest groups.

However, Toby Bragg from Beics Brenin and Caru Coed y Brenin recently told us his fear that the cafe closure will becoming permanent, and the trails may follow. “Where trails have to be closed for felling, or because they’re damaged… they just won’t be reopened again,” he told mbr. “We need people to get angry about this and understand that, yes, this really could happen.”

“We are certainly relieved that NRW has taken the decision to continue to provide these services for the time being,” Toby says. “I suspect this news will be small consolation for the cafe staff, who will still lose their jobs, but at least their roles can continue to a time of year when it should be easier for them to seek new positions.”

Earlier this month NRW confirmed it would close Coed y Brenin visitor’s centre after a year of speculation. The government body hopes to cut £12 million from its budget.

The Minortaur trail at Coed y Brenin needs plenty of maintenance thanks to its entry-level status, but funds are drying up

Next steps for Coed y Brenin

The best news though is that NRW is looking for partners “from the community groups and businesses,” so there is hope for the centre to reopen, given enough time and the right bidder.

The UK MTB Trail Alliance, Beicio Cymru, Cycling UK and 95 other organisations from the Welsh mountain bike sector have already urged NRW’s board and chief exec to ensure the tender and contract processes are expedited and the centres remain closed for a short period of time only.

“They also need 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 newly formed entities,” Robin says. “They should not be expected to meet the same criteria that NRW would expect of a normal commercial partner.”

The process for applications won’t be considered in advance of the start date of any public tender, NRW said in a statement. “In due course we will use the Sell2Wales website and those interested can register on the platform in advance of any process starting.”

We’ve approached NRW for comment, we’ll update this page when we hear back.