A buyer is being sought to take on an iconic harbourside building in St Mawes and become the saviour of the village’s gig club.
Once a maritime store, then a garage, and later the home of celebrated artist and musician Brenda Pye, Pomery’s is a prominent waterside building with a history dating back to the 19th century.
Now beyond economic repair, the building has been put on the market with H Tiddy at a guide price of £475,000 and offers a once in a lifetime opportunity. But this is not a typical property sale for a typical buyer.
Owner Pomery Ltd is seeking the kind of buyer who is not only looking to purchase a freehold waterside project, but who also has enough community spirit to save the home of the Roseland Gig Club which has been based at the premises since the 1980s.
H Tiddy said: “Subject to planning permission being granted, the village community as a whole wish for Roseland Gig Club to retain ownership of the ground floor and forecourt of a new sympathetically built premises under a new 999-year lease with a peppercorn ground rent.
“This will leave the new freehold owner to create their own dream waterside dwelling or perhaps two to three luxury apartments on the remaining two and a half floors.”
Boasting outstanding views over the harbour and quay, from Summers Beach to Falmouth Bay, and to the English Channel on clearer days, Pomery’s has three floors of accommodation.
The ground floor hosts the gig store with stairs to the first floor, a storage room and a separate washroom. The first floor comprises a living room with galleried steps to a mezzanine level, a study or fifth bedroom, a dining room or third bedroom, two further bedrooms, a kitchen, and a shower room. A sitting room or fourth bedroom, plus a bathroom are on the mezzanine level. The second floor features a kitchenette, a bathroom, a bedroom and a sitting room.
Documentary evidence indicates that Pomery’s is an early 19th century or older maritime store created to house barrels of pilchards that were processed in a since demolished adjacent building. In later years, Pomery’s was used by the St Mawes Steamship Company until just after the First World War.
In the late 1920s, the building was purchased by a Mr Pomery, who turned it into a petrol filling station and motor car repair garage. The old petrol pumps still remain to the front of the building, and, as indicated by the price of petrol found on the pumps, the garage ceased selling fuel in the 1950s.
The building was bought by local benefactor, artist and musician Brenda Pye in 1978, who was a polymath and enthusiastic collector of a wide range of objects d’art.
For three years, Brenda was Commodore of the St Mawes Sailing Club and had a strong interest in gig rowing. Above all she wished to record the heritage, culture and passion of the Roseland, its surrounding area and its peoples.
Brenda lived in the upper part of the building and initially used the ground floor as an art studio, until the mid 1980s when she leased it to the Roseland Gig Club as a base for rowing activities and storing boats.
When Brenda Pye died in 2015, she bequeathed the freehold of Pomery’s to the Gig Club. She also created a 984-year lease in favour of the St Just and St Mawes Heritage Group, and allocated some funding to create a museum of art and heritage in the part of the building that had been her home. The ‘Life of Pye’ paintings are a collection of around 80 items of modern Cornish art by famous artists which are currently held by The Falmouth Art Gallery.
In 2020, the freehold of the building was transferred to Pomery’s Ltd. H Tiddy said: “Unfortunately, surveys have revealed that the building is in such a poor state as to be uneconomical to simply renovate. Pomery’s Ltd does not have the necessary funds available to knock down and re-build Pomery’s hence the reason why this remarkable building is on the market.”
To find out more about this St Mawes property, contact H Tiddy on 01326 270212.
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