A new video has revealed the full extent of the challenges facing the team working to convert a former Crickhowell High Street pub – once under threat of being turned into a supermarket – into shops and flats.

But the team of volunteers driving through the project insist ‘We are ready!’.

People in Crickhowell clubbed together to buy the former Corn Exchange pub to stop it being turned into a national chain convenience store - but they didn’t know at the time the true condition of the building. Now the pub has been stripped out to reveal its structure and the team have produced a video tour to show what will need to be done to save the building.

Managing Director of Corn Exchange Crickhowell Ltd (CECLtd) Dean Christy, said, ”We could not possibly have known the extent of the structural challenges facing us until we stripped the building out.”

He tells the camera, “One of the joys of this project is that we are not only saving the High Street from a supermarket, we are also protecting an historic building.”

Mr Christy is shown in the video shaking timbers which once supported floors and pointing to structural oak beams which have been cut through to create corridors.

A wall has been removed leaving a stone fireplace above resting on floorboards.

“It really is a bit of a miracle that over the years the roof hasn’t collapsed,” he says.

Corn Exchange Crickhowell Ltd say they have worked out solutions for all these problems, involving building new structural walls and inserting steel beams.

They say that work to convert The Corn Exchange will start imminently.

‘Barring any major setbacks’ the company says it will complete the work at the end of October.

You can watch the video at the company’s website cornexchangecrickhowell.co.uk or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ95RIx3wtY

CECLtd have made a new share issue to cover the higher than expected cost of the conversion. They say interest has been high and they will open the offer up to non shareholders who have previously expressed an interest on April 1.

The company will also this week be sending out a questionnaire to the 21 businesses who have expressed interest in renting space in The Corn Exchange.

Their answers will be judged against a set of criteria including how sustainable the businesses will be, whether they will compete against other businesses in the town centre and how much they will appeal to locals and visitors.

Mr Christy said, ”Finding the right tenants for The Corn Exchange is as important as achieving a reasonable rent. Achieving the balancing act of getting the best possible return for our shareholders and doing the right thing by the town will not be easy, but we will find a solution and deliver a building of which Crickhowell can be proud.”

Updated plans of how the shops and flats will look can be seen on the company’s website.