'Dilapidated' Holyhead market hall set to reopen

Anglesey council stepped in to save the hall amid fears it would collapse

A £4m project to rejuvenate a historic building on Anglesey is nearing completion with the facility set to open its doors in late spring.

Holyhead's market hall, built in 1855, had lain derelict for more than a decade before work began to transform it into a library and community hub.

Heritage agency Cadw had branded it "the most dilapidated civic building in Wales".

The refurbished hall is expected to open its doors in April.

A member of the Stanley family had the market hall built for the benefit of local traders

The Grade II-listed hall was commissioned for local traders by William Owen Stanley, an MP from a famous landowning family who later became Anglesey's Lord Lieutenant.

Boxing and wrestling matches were staged at the hall before it fell into disrepair, hosting a fruit and vegetable shop before it finally shut in 2000.

Anglesey council stepped in to save the building from potential collapse in 2014 before taking it over with a compulsory purchase order, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Heritage Lottery Fund provided £2.4m towards the refurbishment, with money also coming from the Welsh Government and the European Union.

The work is due to be completed by April 2019

The refurbished hall will include displays celebrating local history

Carwyn Jones, the Anglesey councillor responsible for economic development, said lottery funds had enabled "a sustainable future for the former Market Hall, respecting and celebrating its heritage".

Holyhead's library will be relocated there from Newry Street, and the hall will also include a coffee shop, a local history centre and office space for hire.

Project manager Nathan Blanchard said: "The feedback has been immensely positive, with people pleased to see a long-standing derelict building transformed into a new facility that will support the town centre."