A POPULAR RETAIL brand is set to officially open on the site of a former pub. 

One Stop, which already has a number of branches across Gwent, including one that has recently opened in Blackwood, is set to open a store in Cwmbran in June. 

Once the site of the former Pontnewydd Inn in Cwmbran, One Stop has almost completed building its new store, with the official opening date set for Saturday, June 15 at 11am. 

The store, on Commercial Street, will be managed by Kay Gregory, who also has revealed to the Argus that Welsh Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Torfaen Nick Thomas-Symonds will be in attendance to cut the official opening ribbon. 

The original planning application to turn the former pub, which has been vacant for a number of years, was submitted to Torfaen Council and approved, subject to conditions in 2013. 

A further application was submitted in November 2022  by calfordseaden LLP on behalf of One Stop, with the agreement to amend some of the conditions. 

The conditions in question included  “no deliveries shall be taken at or despatched from the site outside the hours of 5pm and 9am”, and “no deliveries shall be made to the premises from outside the site”.

Other conditions that the planning application covers include: “All goods and refuse to be removed from site shall be loaded onto vehicles within the site” and “no goods shall be delivered to the premises in vehicles exceeding 8.5m in length”.

These conditions were changes from the original permission which deemed that deliveries would be "on-site only", which, due to the restrictions and constrained nature of access to the site had left it vacant for years. 

The proposed application called for allowing deliveries between 6am and 8pm from vehicles with a maximum length of 11 metres.

The plans to turn the pub into a convenience store have seen plenty of concern from local residents, which resulted in a petition being handed to Torfaen Council to refuse planning permission. 

The concerns were primarily over proposed deliveries restricting access through the village, as well as over whether there was a need for another shop of this nature.

Residents even took to drawing the size of the required lorries on the road in chalk to highlight their concerns over restricting access to the road. 

Despite these issues, the new One Stop will open on Commercial Street in Cwmbran on Saturday, June 15 at 11am.