A £1.1 million Gwent theme pub will open this summer despite a blaze at the site last year and a "painstaking" operation to remove asbestos. Pub chain JD Wetherspoon renewed its commitment to opening a new bar in Osborne Road, Pontypool today.

A company spokesperson confirmed plans were on schedule to welcome the first punters by the end of August this year.

The three-storey premises was engulfed in flames following an arson attack last year.

Up to 44 firefighters worked late into the night and some of the next morning, on November 14, to extinguish the inferno, but the two properties involved were gutted.

Since then, developers have been working alongside Torfaen council and fire safety inspectors to secure the building.

A spokesperson for Wetherspoon said: "The incident has added a significant cost to the project but I am unable to be specific about the figures."

The company plans to name it's new pub after Pontypool's Victorian benefactor, John Capel Hanbury.

As yet no arrests have been made in connection with the fire, although the Argus understands investigations are still ongoing.

"We aim to open the new pub by the end of August. As far as we are concerned, we are on target to make that date," said the Wetherspoon's spokesperson.

He said: "We have been on site for the last couple of months working on the exterior structure and we are now working on the interior.

"We had to do a fair amount of painstaking work removing asbestos from some of the outer buildings.

"That is now complete, but it was a time-consuming process."