THE owner of a historic town centre malt house has been given the go ahead to open up the rear of the courtyard to investigate the building’s lower layers and doorway to the cellar.

Steve Gill, who purchased the rundown Grade II-listed building at Nos 10 to 14, St Mary’s Street, Monmouth, in 2013, won a planning appeal after originally being turned down by council planners.

Still known as The Malt House, he has now been given listed building consent to press ahead after supplying details of how any archaeological finds will be recorded and preserved.

The works are part of a wider programme to restore the three-storey Malt House, which dates back to the 1870s, to its original condition and allow public access to the kiln chamber, steep and drying floor.

Mr Gill, who intends to provide a set of wide shallow steps for safe access as part of the works, says he wants the Malt House to become a historic attraction in the town.

He has already restored the traditional frontage and participated last year in the Monmouth Civic Society Open Doors day, where more than 130 visitors toured the building.

Welsh historic monuments group CADW has classed The Malt House’s current condition as “vulnerable” on its “Buildings at Risk” register.

Built by master malster George Porter Tippins, Monmouth town mayor in 1880, on the historic St Mary’s route from Wye Bridge to Monmouth Priory and Castle, it supplied the needs of local publicans, estates and home brewers.

In the late 1940s it became a furniture depository, and later an antiques centre and a coffee shop, before trading most recently as a tapas bar and Thai restaurant.

But the restaurant closed down after the lack of a fire escape resulted in a prohibition notice from the Fire Service.

The planning inspector acknowledged that Monmouthsire planners were “rightly concerned that the works would harm the historic context of the building leading to an irreversible loss of a significant element of the building’s historic fabric in terms of levels appearance and finishes.”

But allowing the appeal, they added: “Nevertheless, based on my internal inspection of the building which revealed evidence of previous works to modernise it, including raising the floor level, I consider that the internal investigations would have a very minimal effect on the building’s special interest.”