RCT Council has supported the owners of the Pencelli Hotel in Treorchy to secure important grant funding – which will help convert the building within the heart of the community, and reopen it as a new restaurant, bar and hotel.

The property at Pencai Terrace is a former public house that had closed intermittently during the pandemic, before permanently closing in 2022. The building was in a poor condition, with substantial work required to bring it back into use. Its current owner, SGM Property and Hospitality Ltd, received full permission to develop the building at a planning meeting in June 2024.

The project will refurbish the property, reconfigure the ground floor while retaining a restaurant and bar area, and install a new kitchen. The upper floors will be converted into 11 guest rooms for the hotel element. Various external repairs and amendments will also be made to the building.

The building owner approached the Council to explore funding opportunities to assist with the works. Officers have supported them through the process, by informing them of the grant funding available and helping them to apply.

The Council can confirm it has now issued the award of a grant from the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund. Under the terms of the grant, all works using the funding award must be completed by the beginning of spring 2025.

Councillor Mark Norris, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Cabinet Member for Development and Prosperity, said: “I’m pleased that the Council has been able to support this exciting project in Treorchy, to refurbish and reopen the prominent Pencelli Hotel building – that for many years served as a much-loved meeting point right in the heart of the community. The scheme will add to the town’s local hospitality offer, while bringing a large, vacant building back into use, and preventing the risk of it falling into further disrepair.

“The development will provide a restaurant and bar on the ground floor, and a fully-functioning hotel upstairs – catering to the local community and visitors alike. There’s a need for more visitor accommodation in the valleys, and we anticipate the hotel to be in demand – particularly as it’s a short walk from the centre of Treorchy, the train station, and the Park and Dare Theatre.

“With grant funding now confirmed by the Council, I’m looking forward to seeing the refurbishment make progress in the weeks and months ahead.”