Monmouth could lose two retail units right next to its historic Monnow Bridge if plans for a chartered accountants go ahead.

The former Pegasus hobby and games shop and the short-lived Quench shop in St Thomas’ Square may well be merged back into one premises, with a financial and professional services planning classification rather than the current retail and food and drinks sales planning categories they are now.

Hollands Acountancy Ltd, based in Portsmouth, has applied to knock the two premises, Pegasus and Quench, back into one.

The temporary dividing wall which is currently between the two current units will be taken down to create one unit. The new unit will be used entirely as a chartered accountancy practice.

The Pegasus store, which once occupied the whole shop, was run by Corporal Stuart Hale, a former paratrooper and veteran of the Afghan war, who became trapped in a minefield along with two other colleagues in 2006: one sadly lost his life.

The ordeal suffered by Corporal Hale, who lost a leg, and his colleagues was made into the war movie, Kajaki.

Stuart moved to Monmouth and started the Pegasus Hobby and Games shop, but in 2017 he faced a new battle to keep his Monmouth business afloat in the face of a huge £11,000 rates rise.

He was forced to sub-let half his floor space to try and meet the ‘massive’ bill at his Pegasus Hobbies and Games store near to Monnow Bridge.

The 39-year-old former paratrooper became the first amputee in the British Army to return to frontline action in 2008, two years after being blown up by a mine, and came under fire again in the same place.

The plans state that the premises are not within a site that is prone to flooding.

The business will employ 3 full-time and three part-time staff once planning has been allowed.

Pre-application advice has been sought from the local planning authority, Monmouthshire County Council

The town council discussed the proposed plans last night (Tuesday June 6) after this paper went to press.