‘Eyesore’ hotel to become affordable homes following demolition

Bruce Sinclair, Local democracy reporter

Works have started on the demolition of the ‘eyesore’ site of the fire-ravaged former Cleddau Bridge Hotel, Pembroke Dock, with 35 affordable homes to be built in its place.

In a prime location at one of the entrances to Pembroke Dock, the former Cleddau Bridge Hotel has been a derelict site since a fire in March 2019 that brought emergency services from as far afield as Ammanford, Aberystwyth and Swansea.

The 35 homes will range in size and consist of various types of affordable housing, such as social, supported, and intermediate rent.

The site has been purchased by Castell Group Property Specialists who specialise in delivering affordable housing in South Wales and have undertaken a joint development deal with Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC), a deal agreed back in April 2024.

Permission

Late last year, Castell Group Property Specialists, through agent Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd, was granted permission by the council’s planning committee to demolish what is left of the hotel, with a development of 100 per cent affordable housing units, in a mix of social rent and affordable housing.

All properties will be owned and rented by Pembrokeshire County Council.

Speaking at the December 2024 planning meeting before permission was granted, agent Andrew Vaughan-Harries said: “It’s going to be a new site of council houses, a private package to develop these 35 houses; if and when these houses are built they will be acquired by Pembrokeshire County Council as the next phase of housing stock. It will be your council houses for Pembroke Dock.”

Development

Castell Group, in partnership with Pembrokeshire County Council, recently completed the sale for the redevelopment of the site.

Cllr Joshua Beynon, local member, has previously said: “I am really pleased to see the council developing this piece of land that has been left as an eyesore since it caught fire some years ago. Housing is what we need, and I’m really pleased to see it happening here.”

A previous planning application for the demolition of the hotel and siting of a residential care home and linked bungalows was submitted in October 2022, subsequently granted permission in February 2023, but never progressed.