HAVERHUB, the community venue designed to help the regeneration Haverfordwest Town Centre has officially opened.

The HaverHub Opening Weekend took place over three days from Friday, July 2^nd to Sunday, July 4^th. The ribbon was cut outside the front door at 2pm on Friday by the Sheriff of Haverfordwest.

A number of bands and DJ’s performed over the three day period of celebration including Honey Fungus, La Loba, Sky Barkers, DJ Uncle Frank, Filthy Lucre, DJ OneZ, Llewellin Duo, David Pepper, Bella Voce. Entertainment was broadcast on Pure West Radio, who sponsored the socially distanced event.

Founding director of the project Gitti Cotes said she was excited about the opportunities it would bring the town.

Gitti hold The Pembrokeshire Herald: “Everybody is really excited about it. It will bring people into the town and bring economic benefit and give people reasons to come here.

“The idea for a hub for the town came from walking past too many empty, special buildings. I got into the whole idea of regeneration. The most obvious thing is to have a central place for people to come together.

“People came together quickly and it has snowballed. Jerry ended up buying the building in 2017 to enable the project to happen, we have had funding from the Welsh government and the local council. It has been a massive jigsaw puzzle.”

Talking about the challenges of a post-covid Pembrokeshire, she added: “We’re excited to be a pilot for post-Covid working. Upstairs, we have got collaborative workspace. People can rent hot desks and wi-fi for a few hours.”

The old Post Office building in Quay Street, Haverfordwest, is underwent a major refurbishment project with help from the Haverfordwest Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI).

The grant funders to the THI are the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cadw and Pembrokeshire County Council, which has awarded £100,000 towards the project. “We’ve been working with the committed HaverHub team for many months now and I’m pleased we’ve been able to support their efforts through this Grant award,” said Cllr Paul Miller, Cabinet Member for Economy, Tourism, Leisure and Culture.

The building, which has been empty for many years, is an example of the high quality neo-Georgian post offices of the inter-war period. It is constructed from Bath stone ashlar, with its Doric colonnaded door and richly carved royal arms providing striking architectural features. All the windows will be refurbished or replaced as necessary, with necessary repairs undertaken for the masonry and architectural roof lantern.

Speaking a few years back, Steven Jardine, Project Co-ordinator, said the old Post Office was one of the last projects to benefit from the Haverfordwest THI.

“Haverfordwest THI has provided grants of more than £1.5 million in the town since 2016, enabling more than £2 million worth of renovation work to take place to historic properties,” he said. “The buildings refurbished during the two years include commercial properties at Castle Square, Victoria Terrace, High Street, Mariners Square, and now at Quay Street.”

Haverfordwest County Councillor Tom Tudor, whose ward includes Quay Street, said: “It’s wonderful to see the restoration work providing real regeneration action for Haverfordwest.”

He added: “I am very pleased that this project is coming on so well and whilst I was Chairperson for the Haverfordwest Town Centre Initiative THI I was delighted that grant funds could be provided to support this important community project.”

“HaverHub received a THI grant payment of £135,176.26. PCC also managed the award of a TRI (Welsh Government – Targeted Regeneration Investment) grant of £237,713.76.”