When we bought the building in 2019, it had been vacant for seven years and was in poor condition with unsafe electrics, virtually no working heating, warped floors and cracks in the wall because of rotten beams and joists causing the building to move. Our objectives for this renovation project were to:

  • Make the building structurally sound and compliant with modern standards and regulations where possible
  • Maintain as much of the original fabric as we could and use traditional materials like lime render and oak where possible for repairs
  • Use fixtures, fittings and colours that enhance a historic building in a conservation area
  • Provide modern amenities that people would expect
  • Offer a quality finish – staying or working in Denbigh should feel like a treat!

Here’s a selection of pictures of how the building looked in 2019 when we bought it:

The front of the building facing the high street
Looking into the ground floor café from the central stairwell. Sadly these floor tiles had been laid into concrete on top of the wooden Tudor joists and the weight was too much for them and so had to be removed
The ground floor café serving area
Entrance to what are now the first-floor workspaces
The first-floor function room
The second-floor front room
The top floor bathroom

Anyone who has done a major commercial build project knows that the first stage is to peel back the layers of the building to assess its condition, make any necessary repairs and then install the new plumbing, heating, electrics, fire safety systems and fibre optic cabling and then redecorate. Unfortunately, this normally means that things get worse before they get better. In our case a lot more of the original timber structure was rotten and needed reinforcing with steel and concrete. However, we did make some amazing discoveries too.

The oak timber framed wall holding up the listed staircase had become rotten in places. We spliced in new sections of oak and then reinforced the front of the wall before applying the external render and fitting the flat roof in the courtyard above the ground floor
The front flat lounge diner
Some of the original woodwork found in the rear flat
We discovered a void behind a lath and plaster wall in the front half of the building. There was no treasure or dead bodies, but it did provide half the space for the bathroom for the front flat
We discovered this magnificent Tudor woodwork during the renovations and changed the design of the rear flat to not only preserve as much of this as possible but to keep it on show
This is a wooden wall with nicotine-stained sash windows that was the wall of the snug of the coaching inn. You can imagine men in flat caps, smoking their pipes and playing dominoes in the late 1800s. This is now sealed inside a fireproof plaster wall on the right-hand side of the ground floor rear entrance hall
We also found a timber from an old sailing ship (shown in the corner above the steel work) that still had the niches for the pulleys to control the sails. However, it was holding up 30 tonnes of masonry and so we added new steel supports to make the building safe
We also uncovered this piece of perhaps Victorian wallpaper which we have framed and kept on show in one of the offices
We have joined the front and rear of the building together, strengthened the ceiling and installed a dumb waiter to bring food from the planned ground floor café to the first-floor function room when the café is up and running

Acknowledgements

Daniel and Fiona would like to thank everyone that has helped with the restoration of the building including the Welsh Government Transforming Towns Fund, Clocaenog Wind Farm Community Fund, Business Wales, Denbighshire Council, our very patient neighbours, the enthusiastic local community, Denbigh Community Archive for helping us learn more about the building’s history and the skilled North Wales project team that helped make it happen including:

  • Olivia Jones (Logo designer)
  • Vanessa Hitchmough (Interior designer)
  • Grosvenor Construction (Lead Contractor)
  • Angle Commercial (Quantity Surveyor)
  • Creu (Architects)
  • Emma Hackney, Egniol Consulting (Structural Engineer)
  • Chris Evans (Conservation Officer, Denbighshire County Council)
  • Svetlana Ross, Business Wales
  • Esyllt Adair, Clocaenog Wind Farm
  • Assure Building Controls (Building Regs)
  • Delyn Safety (Fire Risk Assessment)
  • CJ Electrics (Electrical)
  • Nixons Heating & Plumbing
  • A & N Joinery
  • Net-Work Internet
  • Denbigh Locksmiths
  • Matt Lowe, carpenter and handyman
  • Racecraft Signs
  • Jake Webb Videography
  • Guthrie Jones & Jones Solicitors
  • Azets accountants
  • LockStock Denbigh
  • WillSky (TV & Internet)
  • Jackson Fire & Security
  • Mark Evans (Painter)
  • John Harvey (builder)
  • Dafydd Owen (technical drawings)