'At times I’ve been almost in tears' says Martin Roberts as he reveals latest news at his Welsh pub renovation

It's been a very stressful year for BBC TV's Homes Under The Hammer presenter and property expert Martin Roberts at his Welsh pub and hotel renovation, and he admits that it's only his family, fans on social media, and the visualisation of what the building will one day become that has kept him going through the hardest of times.

Martin bought The Hendrewen hotel and pub located at the top of the Rhondda Fawr valley within the hillside village of Blaencwm in 2022 after finding out it had struggled through the Covid-19 pandemic leading to its closure and the loss of a much-loved community hub.

The purchase was a bit of a surprise to Martin's wife Kirsty and family, and was considered a wonderful good news story for the development of tourism in the valley, especially when coupled with Martin's support for the re-opening of the Rhondda tunnel as patron of the Rhondda Tunnel Society - but it has been so much of a struggle to try and revive the pub that on the worst days Martin says he has been worried and emotional. For more property, renovation and interior design stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.

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Martin told WalesOnline: "Stuff seems to take forever and at times it's just felt like things aren’t moving anywhere as fast as I would like. There are times when I’ve been almost in tears going 'will this ever come to fruition?' because things keep taking so long and I keep promising that this will be open and I feel like I’m letting people down.

"I have been a bit down in the dumps because it is all money going out and headache upon headache, and it’s all hassle, it’s all pain, and it’s all struggle. I have to keep an eye on the end goal of what it will be like when people walk into the pub and go ‘wow, we’ve never seen anything like this!’ in the valleys, in Wales, and maybe even the UK - it’s going to be that spectacular I hope.

"I will admit that I think I underestimated the amount of work. But, of course, when you start paring a building back you discover things you couldn’t have seen at a glance so I have discovered every single potential fault that I could have come across really - so it’s had to be back to bare brick."

But forever the optimist Martin tries to see the delays and constant new challenges to tackle has a positive side too. He says: "We are essentially rebuilding it but I don’t want to compromise, I’d rather wait to get it right and so every time there's been a delay it has given me more time to think about how I want it and actually if I’d done it how I originally thought, I would have been unhappy. The delays have given me time to really think it through."

With the extra time put to good use Martin has been deep in thought considering the look and the ambience of the pub, restaurant and hotel has created some exciting developments that promise to make 2025 a very special year for him and his team, the building, and the local area - and some of them are very surprising.

One aspect of the project that Martin has just been involved with is the construction of the restaurant's menu and he is very excited about what has been produced. He says: "I’ve just seen the provisional menu - I can’t tell you anything about it at this stage other than you will not have seen anything like it, it is everything - Welsh produce, it’s got heart, it’s got difference, it’s interesting, it’s affordable yet special - it’s been put together by a wonderful guy called Nick Collins from Clever Chefs and using local produce from Welsh company Castell Howell."

The show piece of the pub for Martin has always been the bar, located at the centre of the space - the first thing you see when you enter the pub; and there's exciting news about the development of this key structure too.

Martin says: I’m really, really excited about the bar - we’ve got a company called P.D. Morgan Ltd making the actual bar itself including all the stuff that goes behind it and also the front which they are making out of reclaimed wood from the hotel - the stuff that we took out - the rafters, the floorboards - they’re using all that to create a rustic, wooden bar front."

At the Eisteddfod in Pontypridd Martin met local craftsman Rhodri Phillips who works with resin to create visually stunning home accessories such as coasters and placemats, but Martin was so instantly taken by Rhodri's work he has commissioned him to create the core part the bar that will elevate its visual impact.

Martin says: "I really, really wanted the top to be made from wood and resin, so basically two pieces of wood where you put the wavy edge in the middle and then you fill it with resin - so what I want to create is the impression of a blue river flowing down the whole bar length and then it comes to the end and instead of stopping it drops down 90 degrees to the floor so it mirrors the waterfalls you see out of the windows."

Martin's eagerness to find and use Welsh companies and crafts people is coupled with his desire to involve the community as much as possible, including working with the Realskillz Project, an innovational collaboration between the Youth Engagement and Participation Service (YEPS) 16+ Support Team, Communities for Work Plus, ARC Training and Martin, offering young people from the area the chance to learn construction skills onsite at the pub. Martin also hopes to involve training young people in the kitchen once the pub and restaurant are open, as well as offering opportunities for local musicians and artists to perform at the venue too.

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The unique story of how and why Martin bought the pub and the connection to the community and Wales, plus the opportunities for local people that is at the core of his thinking has deservedly landed him a new TV show based on his YouTube video series called, 'Oops I Bought A Pub'. Martin says the show is a collaboration between ITV daytime, ITV Wales, and his production company Moonstone Productions, and is likely to be aired every day over a two week period once the building has neared completion.

He says: "We’ve got what’s really hard to get - an actual slot on the schedule and there's also an opportunity for someone to sponsor the programme, we're looking for a company who want to get into the realms of TV advertising and be associated with me and this really important project, and by being on telly it will highlight Wales, highlight the valleys, highlight the initiative with the kids to get young people into the construction world, and be a chance to be part of something really, really special."

There is a substantial amount of building work to do at the site during the next four months to progress the site to the next stage and Martin feels a mix of excitement but also weariness at what is planned. He says: "We have to rebuild the retaining wall at the rear of the property - that is something nobody ever wants to do because it’s really expensive but we can’t really do much more until we’ve made sure that that is right.

"However, most excitingly we’re going to start work on the restaurant extension which is being made by a lovely company called Welsh Oak Frame who are in mid Wales. They have come up with an incredible design for a traditionally made oak frame with glass including a gable end which will look out to the waterfalls. Hopefully both of these developments will be finished by April. Soon after we will be doing the rest of the building work including the kitchen and the toilets, so I am hopeful for a summer 2025 opening and this is what we’re working towards."

But maybe Martin has left the description of his most ambitious addition to The Hendrewen until last - and if it comes off it's going to be very dramatic and definitely the talk of the village, the valley, the nation, and probably across the UK too.

Martin says: "Pro Steel Engineering made the dragon that sits outside Celtic Manor’s International Convention Centre and they donated a smaller five foot dragon which I was able to auction at the fundraising gala for Rhondda Tunnel Society." Find out more about the gala here.

But Martin is keen for Pro Steel Engineering to design and build him something even more visual than the gala dragon, he explains: "They have redesigned the dragon long enough to be suspended then I’m going to talk to my friend Clive, who is my plumber and gas engineer, because I want a fire breathing five tonne dragon suspended from the end of a hotel wall - what’s the point of having a dragon on the ground - that’s boring - so I want a flying dragon!

"We wouldn’t have the flames on all the time, just allocated times you know, as it wouldn’t be very eco-friendly, it might have to be on the hour every hour and then people can gather underneath and take pictures. It will be fully health and safety compliant of course, with more engineering going into it than the Severn Bridge."

The menu, the extension, the bar design, the dragon - they all go some way to helping Martin dream big about the plans for his renovation project in 2025 and it's his vision that drags his mind away from all the problems.

He explains: "I deflect the stress of the renovation and the tediousness of things like retaining walls and just position my mind to see the dragon breathing fire and seeing Rhodri's beautiful resin bar and sitting in the restaurant with Nick’s amazing menu with beautiful local ingredients provided by Castell Howell and the kids eating pizzas made by Giovanni from his Cardiff restaurant who is helping me too - that’s what keeps me going."

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