Covid one more barrier to get venue open again
IT’S the sprawling £3.8m landmark that was once the beating heart of the tiny Valleys village whose landscape it dominates.
In its day, the four-storey Royal Cwmaman Hall, as it’s now known, was the go-to social hub for people from all over the area.
With a 260-seat concert room, 290-capacity theatre, gym, function rooms and bars, it had no trouble pulling in the punters and as many as 40 different local arts societies – from am-dram to silver bands – at any one time.
Yet, 14 years after its state-of-the-art, Lottery-funded refurbishment in 2001, rising costs and falling funds finally saw it close its doors for good.
That was until new owners took over in 2018, opening up another chapter in the life of the former Cwmaman Public Hall and Institute – AKA Cwm Club – after buying the venue at auction for just over £88,000.
Since then HME Property Management has invested round-the-clock hard graft and tens of thousands of pounds in the process of making the vast, labyrinthine complex habitable again.
But the onslaught of Covid-19 has currently put paid to all that.
The building’s in-house theatre, redubbed Cwmaman Arts Centre – regifted to the community for free to be run by a newly set up non-profit company – has had to cancel its planned productions for 2020 and bring its stage curtain down once again.
Other units which had been leased out as offices and meeting rooms also lie dormant, while the grand plans to turn the main body of the building into a banquet hall for wedding receptions has been put on the back burner.
And it is the delays and complications for the hospitality sector caused by coronavirus which owner Hammaad Sufyan reckons have set his goals back by about two years.
“It’s been a bit crazy, which is a shame because 2020 was meant to have been a big year for us all,” said the 36-year-old.
“The arts centre had something like 40 shows lined up, while we were looking to have had the wedding hall finished by summer so we could start taking bookings.
“All that was left to do was a bit of decorating and to lay new carpets.
“Then, suddenly, everything came to a stop with lockdown.
“Indeed, the only thing running well is the gym space – they have done a great job complying with and adapting to the social distancing guidelines and have been keeping everyone safe.”
Hammaad added that the wedding hall was always going to be the venue’s biggest earner.
“But without knowing how long these restrictions will last on the number of people allowed to gather together – or if a new national lockdown might be on the horizon – it makes no sense to continue ploughing money into something that isn’t going to generate any income.
“And, while the financial support measures the Government put in place this year meant small businesses were able to pay their way – like those who rent space under this roof – who knows what’s going to happen as this situation goes on into 2021?
“I worry we’re not going to be able to make the money we need just to run the building.”
But Hammaad refuses to give up on his dream to breathe new life back into the old place.
“Getting through winter is a concern, admittedly,” he said. “But you’ve got to stay focused. Getting this venue back up and running has always been a succession of hurdles that need jumping.
“Covid is just one more obstacle that we need to clear.”