If you want to take a look around Rhuthun's Craft Centre, tomorrow’s your last chance. You probably won’t find much open other than the gallery and tourist info-cum-shop. After that, though, the place closes for redevelopment.Rumours circulating around the town that neighbour Tesco has bought the land for a petrol station are probably unfounded. This, the conspiracy theorists suggest, might even involve the Craft Centre moving to the Somerfield and Co-op sites, on the assumption that the smaller supermarkets have no future. It might even mean Tesco slewing the road to provide more car parking space for the store.
No, what’s really going to happen is a £4mil-plus redevelopment on the existing site, into a leading, cutting edge art and craft facility that, like Glasdir, County Hall and Tesco’s, will be a major plank in the town’s forward programme and development.
Expect the tourist information centre to relocate temporarily in the town centre (possibly Well Street, though other sites are possibilities) at some point in the future.
The Craft Centre is likely to be closed for more than 12 months while developers ready the site. Over the last year, there continued to be much speculation about the site, while the final funding was gathered together. The existing building was officially opened in 1982. With plans in the air officially since December 2005, the site now has a down-at-heel air to it, with many vacant or closed units. Latterly, there have been five of the 14 units occupied.
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Craft Centre