ONE of Llandrindod Wells’ most iconic buildings is soon to become a multi-purpose venue that will house a recording studio, art gallery, wine bar and café.

The Bradleys building is situated in the centre of the spa town, on Middleton Street, and is being revitalised by owners Adam Faust and Kate Milson. It will soon be home to a collection of creative industries including the Twin Peaks Recording Studio and the Kilvert Gallery Collection and Archive.

Adam and Kate bought the building four years ago and have since set about renovating it. They had hoped to open the wine bar and café on the ground floor in August, but setbacks have meant they had to delay opening the former department store.

County Times: Adam and Kate bought the building four years ago and have since set about renovating it. Adam and Kate bought the building four years ago and have since set about renovating it. (Image: Matt Jones)

They have grand plans, with the spacious building also set to become home to an art gallery on the first floor, with artists able to use a state-of-the-art recording studio at the back of the building.

Adam’s background is in music, having worked in London punk, hip hop and dance circles since the mid-1970s. He has worked with acts like Babyshambles, Catatonia and the Manic Street Preachers.

Artist Kate is curator of the Kilvert Gallery, opened in 1986 at Ashbrook House, the former residence of the Victorian diarist Francis Kilvert, in Clyro, near Hay-on-Wye. The gallery is being reopened at Bradleys.

“We came into the town and loved Llandrindod immediately,” said Adam. “We saw the shop as an opportunity to make a difference.”

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The studio hides at the rear of the building, in the old warehouse. Originally located in a reservoir in the Brecon Beacons the studio has been the creative home for many national and international artists over the past 25 years.

Finishing touches are being applied to the wine bar/café and upstairs gallery, but the recording studio is already operational, with Hereford band Moon Goose’s album being finished there, while Adam is working with local acts too, such as Powys’ own Empire of Lights.

“We’re really encouraged by so much support we’ve had already and people popping their heads in and saying they can’t wait for us to open,” said Kate.

“We’ll be a three-in-one venue, with the studio, gallery and wine bar/coffee shop.”

Of the galley, opened originally by artists Elizabeth Organ and Eugene Fisk in their home, she said: “We’ll be doing a mixture of Welsh and British contemporary art. It is the Kilvert Galley reopened.

“It was in Clyro and lots of people remember it fondly. It was in their house and I was one of their artists.

“We became good friends and I began running courses with them. They left it to me to take over so I have the work they collected and a lot of contacts with old artists and a lot of it is contemporary Welsh art. I want to be able to sell work but hang it and have people experience it too.

“Above the studio we have accommodation, for bands mainly, but there’s art everywhere so if you’re using it you’ll come into contact with it.”

County Times: The Kilvert Galley is being reopened at Bradleys. The Kilvert Galley is being reopened at Bradleys. (Image: Matt Jones)

The Kilvert Collection is an archive of artworks, diaries and sketchbooks accumulated by the late owners. Selections of the collection will be available to view throughout the public spaces, with curated visits available on request.

The collection includes work by William (Bill) Mills, Bryan Organ, Elizabeth Organ, Eugene Fisk, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Charles Shearer, Kate Milsom, Ronald Pennell, Paul Osborne and Roger Cecil.

The ‘Arts Café’ will be a flexible space for both gallery and exhibition, described as neither bar, pub or restaurant, but rather a creative café meeting space.

The first floor will be a flexible space for arts events in all the creative disciplines, and it will be available for private functions and community hire.

After a few years of neglect, Bradleys, with its picturesque wrought-iron frontage, is being transformed.

But there is more than a nod to the past in its development. “We’ve tried to use as much as possible of what was here,” said Kate.

County Times: Bradleys will house a recording studio, art gallery, wine bar and café. Bradleys will house a recording studio, art gallery, wine bar and café. (Image: Matt Jones)

“We’re all carbon neutral here. Furniture has been bought at auction. We’ve reupholstered a lot of stuff. The shelves used were here.

“There’s bits of furniture from the Kilvert Gallery and we have tried to use bits here. The floor is the original one but it had chip board covering it so we stripped it back.

“The ceiling was boarded up and we’ve exposed that. There are box steel girders on every single floor. There’s even a little cash desk that we’ve re-introduced.

“It’s like a Chicago department store, sort of Edwardian more than Victorian. It’s been quite a discovery.”

Adam added: “There’s plenty of pubs and sports bars locally, but if you’re not into that thing then hopefully that’s what we’re all about.”