A GREAT DEAL OF WORK has transformed a listed canal warehouse in a terrible state into a a new café.
This was after the work by the volunteers from the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust had done a restoration, Janet Friend reports.
Taken eight years
The work had taken eight years and a multitude of tasks including the filling of the East Basin that took 18 months.
It is told the buildings were covered in ivy, most of the window frames had rotted on this building, the external staircase was rotten, it being in a pretty parlous state. It also required underfloor heating, new electricity supplies, new water supplies, the gas tank to supply the heating for the building and hot water.
Now it is a café named the Welldeck at Wappenshall, and was opened on Sunday and is being run by Kal Wood and her daughter Ellie, Kal Wood explaining:
All could have wanted
"It was all we could have wanted and more. It was absolutely fantastic, the café itself is just gorgeous."
"We're really hoping that we can get a lot of the local schools to bring the kids to look at the environmental aspects, to look at the eco-aspects of everything we're trying to do—to see all the bats and all the fish we've got now in the basin. It's just so interesting."
The building has been kitted out with donated old furniture that has been painted and restored and ther is a room upstairs that could be used for groups, meetings and guided walks.