I bought a tin shack on a mountain for £30,000 and made it famous

On a dreary day on top of a mountain overlooking the Welsh capital city, the door is constantly swinging open and shut. A diverse crowd, from tradesmen in high-vis jackets enjoying bacon sandwiches to police officers sipping hot drinks around an outdoor barrel table, frequent this popular spot.

Two women catching up over coffee and dog walkers grabbing takeaways add to the bustling scene. A bicycle leans against the window, its owner an 81-year-old regular who fondly recalls when this cafe was nothing more than a tin shack.

The man behind it all is Gavin Jones, who has been at the helm of the of the Caerphilly Mountain Snack Bar in various forms since he was just 21.

Previously operating a chip van that he took around the country for different events, Gavin spotted a for-sale ad in the South Wales Echo’s business section. However, there was a catch – the business was on offer, but not the land it occupied, reports Wales Online.

“I bought it at a huge risk because I could have been evicted at any point. I bought it and negotiated a deal where I took the purchase over two years and structured the deal so if I’d been kicked off it would have cost no more than rent,” Gavin revealed.

The metal cabin was initially small, situated on what he describes as a “potholed car park”, but he saw potential in it. “I knew it could be fantastic,” he said. “It was a sliding door moment.”

He says £30,000 was a significant amount of money to invest in the circumstances and a risk his parents advised him against taking: “They said ‘You’re paying £30,000 on a potholed car park that doesn’t even belong to you?'”.

At that time, the menu was scribbled on the back of a Mars Bar box, offering hotdogs, burgers, crisps, tea and instant coffee.

“When I took it over, I could see there’s room to expand the menu even back then. But not only that, it was only serving builders and mountain bikers but not families because it didn’t look attractive. After I’d been running it for a while, I got a letter from the landowner saying he wanted me off.”

Gavin revealed that he knew the landowner and approached him to negotiate a deal. It turned out that it wasn’t just the car park but 10 acres of land that had to be sold together.

His bid was successful and once he owned it all, he had the car park resurfaced and remodelled the cabin, adding wood to the exterior, modelled on a ski chalet, in 1999.

“It literally transformed the business overnight. It went from being a shoddy sort of tin shed on the side of the road to this lovely log cabin,” he said.

Then, he says, it became so busy with new customers including families visiting at weekends, he realised the car park and building needed to be bigger.

In 2011, he received approval to extend his culinary kingdom. Now boasting 28 staff members, it’s a far cry from the early days when he worked alongside a few hands in his modest cabin.

One of the more memorable guests at Gavin’s eatery were regulars Peter and Duncan, who’d touch down in their helicopter. “They needed somewhere to stop for a cup of tea, and all you need is the landowner’s consent to land a helicopter, so I’d make a space on the grass for them, and every other Monday morning they would drop in, for about three or four years,” recounted Gavin, who now credits his business’s success to delivering exactly what patrons seek: quality sustenance at a fair rate, coupled with stellar service.

“I think it’s to do with the location, value for money, it’s quality, and it’s service. It’s all about having something at the right price and service with a smile,” Gavin revealed.

While many businesses in the hospitality sector buckled under pandemic pressures, Gavin’s soared after an initial three-month hiatus, used wisely for renovations. Their unique layout offered ample space, ideal for implementing a one-way system to keep patrons and staff safe.

After resisting the urge to join food delivery services like JustEat and Uber Eats for several years, Gavin has finally given in and even dedicated a portion of their kitchen to handle the demand.

“We were too busy and we couldn’t just deal with demand,” he confessed, acknowledging that the business world is always on the move.

While Gavin may be best known among his regulars for his snack bar, he revealed another talent to a different audience last year: viewers of The Piano on Channel 4. He impressed the judges by playing a song he had written for his mother Shirley during her final months.

He explained how he composed the tune for his mum after she was diagnosed with cancer in January 2017 and given nine months to live. She refused chemotherapy and chose to “live it out”.

He took nine months off work and they spent every day together, adventuring and exploring.

He has been playing since he was a child and can play by ear. However, when he reached high school, he was taught classical music, which wasn’t his passion.

He wanted to play chart music. So, he struck a deal with his teacher: half the lesson would be devoted to classical music, and the other half to the music he brought in.

Both of them learned something, he said: “She really enjoyed the music I was bringing in, so I helped her as well I think”.

At just 16, he began working with pianos at Gamlin’s Music Centre in Cardiff by day and performing as a piano player in local venues or hotels by night. His immersion in music helped him hone his talents, but it also taught him valuable lessons in business.

The compassionate treatment he received from the Gamlin family deeply influenced how he now treats his employees. He recalls a touching gesture where “Mrs G” lent him her car to impress a date, instilling in him a sense of family within the workplace.

“I thought, if you can run such a fabulous business and make all the staff feel like family, you become a team and you become a much better business for the customer, for the staff, for the whole machine. And I thought if ‘I ever have a business I’m nicking that model’ So I treat everybody literally like family,” he shared.

His parents were part of the snack bar team post-retirement, initially working together until friendly squabbles behind the counter necessitated a shift schedule change!

Outside of work, Gavin’s passion still lies with the piano. Last year saw him showcasing his skills on a piano at Cardiff Central railway station and meeting the likes of Lang Lang, Mika, and Claudia Winkleman while on the Channel 4 show. The experience, filled with memorable moments and selfies, was one he deeply cherished.

Gavin has inherited his father’s musical talent, as demonstrated in a video of him playing Bohemian Rhapsody on a piano autographed by Elton John during a Christmas Day sing-a-long. The story behind the signed piano lid is quite interesting.

When Elton was performing at what was then known as the CIA arena in Cardiff, Gavin brought along his piano lid hoping to get it signed by the star. Despite being turned away by security and staff, he was told that if he donated £100,000 to the Aids Foundation, Elton would sign it.

Near the end of the concert, Gavin retrieved the lid from the cloakroom and made his way to the front where Elton was signing autographs. Baffled by the sight of a grand piano lid, Elton nonetheless signed it.

This signed lid is now a cherished part of their family history and will undoubtedly feature in many more family videos in the years to come.