A new vision for Crickhowell’s former Corn Exchange pub will be unveiled to investors next Tuesday – just over a week after the community’s bid to buy the building was accepted.
A special meeting is being called at the Crickhowell’s Clarence Hall, to lay out refurbishment plans to the 180 backers who have pledged funds to buy The Corn Exchange – which was under threat of being turned into a supermarket.
The organisers of the meeting hope that more people will turn up to offer funds – now that the community buyout is definitely going ahead.
A new company, Corn Exchange Crickhowell Ltd, is being formed and its acting Chair, Dean Christy, said: “The deal is agreed. We are now buying The Corn Exchange. But we still need to act quickly to gather in the funds we need to refurbish it. No-one wants to see the building stay boarded-up and empty for too long.”
“We hope that those people who doubted whether the deal would be made will now have the confidence to come forward and invest in a new future for our High Street” he said.
Pub chain, Punch Taverns, announced last week it had agreed to sell the pub to the town after dropping its plans to build a convenience store there. Corn Exchange Crickhowell Ltd now has less than 8 weeks to exchange contracts and six months to secure planning permission. Its preferred option is to convert the building into small shops with flats above.
Details of the plans will be unveiled at Tuesday evening’s meeting. Doors open at 7.10pm to register the investors who will then hear details of the new company’s formation as well as steps being taken to ensure it meets strict rules governing community investments like this.
Genet Bevan, who has been liaising with investors since June, said: “People have been asking for information and the good news is they can now have it. We ask investors to get to the meeting in good time – so they don’t get caught in queues waiting to register”
The group has set themselves the ambitious target of wanting to see the first tenants in the building within 9 months.
Emma Bevan, Chair of The Corn Exchange Action Group said: “We are ambitious, but we know that people in Crickhowell are keen to see The Corn Exchange being used again – even though it won’t be a pub any more.”