Project of the week

The county town of Haverfordwest had outgrown its Victorian post office by the 1930s, and new, larger offices in neo-Georgian style were built near the quayside. The new site included a range of public buildings facing the street, with a sorting office, yard and large vehicle depot to the rear. The complex served Haverfordwest as the central post office until the 1980s, when it closed and the buildings began to decline. 

Much of the town centre of Haverfordwest suffered neglect in the same period, in response to which a team of locals came together in 2017 to create Haverhub - a social enterprise community hub. They realised that the Grade II-listed empty former post office buildings could provide the perfect space for the wide range of activities they planned. The project was delivered through a phased approach, with rooms for hire, co-working spaces, and art, fitness, and dance classes taking place in the main Old Post Office, while works continued to conserve the vehicle depot and goods yard as a market space and music venue hosting local open-mic nights and other performances.

The group now hopes to find funding to conserve the final building, a warehouse backing onto the quay, which will provide more meeting rooms, green rooms for performers, and facilities for local start-up businesses. Once complete, Haverhub will provide 1600m2 of community space for Haverfordwest locals of all ages. 

“A heritage building is all about people and place, hope and togetherness. Haverhub has been a friend and family experience alongside the bricks and mortar, and, after 8 years, it is still a growing and changing ecosystem. But core values and our strategic importance to community cohesion will always be the pulse, I believe!”

Gitti Coats, Founder and Project Director at Haverhub