MP wants to help give rundown former pub a new lease of life in St Austell

MP Noah Law is offering his support to help give a new lease of life to a prominent rundown building in the centre of St Austell.

The former General Wolfe pub building has been left to decay in recent years.

The large building on Bodmin Road had been bought for £1-million by Cornwall Council's Corserv Facilities in 2020, with the aim of using it as temporary housing accommodation, but the plan never came to fruition.

Subsequent official efforts to find a new role for the building came to nothing and in the end, with potential costs having soared, the decision was taken to auction the building.

The building was bought by a buyer in May for £275,000 – at a huge loss to council tax payers – but so far their identity has remained a mystery.

Now Mr Law (Labour), the MP for the St Austell and Newquay constituency, has put out a general call offering his support to the buyer to unlock heritage funding to improve the grade II listed building.

Though the identity of the buyer is not known to the MP, he is hoping publicity around his call may lead to them getting in touch.

He is keen for the buyer to engage positively with him and draw on the support of his office to unlock heritage cash. The MP believes, given the building’s historical significance and listed status, that it could be eligible for substantial grant funding from Historic England, should the buyer wish to make use of it.  

Mr Law said: “When I was elected, I promised to end the impasse around the white elephant that is the General Wolfe building. I have now done this, having pressed the council to take action on the site or find a more suitable owner. They overpaid to start with, the damage done was immense, and I am pleasantly surprised they were even able to realise £275,000 for it. However, I do commend the current administration’s swift action, including to resolve the floating freehold issues which had previously rendered the building unsellable.  

“We had even considered it for the new community housing co-operative which I helped found earlier this year. However, in line with my demands to end the sorry saga, the council chose to take the building to auction. 

“Whether it be for quality accommodation, commercial or civic purposes, it is imperative this building is put to the best use possible. Part of how we ensure this is by unlocking grant funding support where available.  

“Every pound its new owner invests in its redevelopment is a pound we no longer have to find from the community, or local public coffers which owned it previously. It would be a missed opportunity not to draw on the other available sources of funding to ensure its successful redevelopment into a building we can be proud of once again at the heart of our town.  

“I ideally hope the buyer will take me up on this offer and I look forward to hearing from them."