A former South Wales police station complete with original cells is returning to auction with a guide price of £99,000 – two years after selling for £98,000.
The Victorian building on Dunraven Street, Tonypandy, was sold by Paul Fosh Auctions following ten bids in July 2024.
Dating from 1876, the stone-built property extends across two floors and contains former offices, kitchens, a mess room and holding cells with barred windows and steel-reinforced doors.
The impressive two storey police building, inextricably linked to nineteenth century miners’ riots, could now be set for a more passive future as offices. The auctioneer says other uses, potentially including residential conversion, could be considered subject to the necessary consents.
CHURCHILL CONNECTION
The former police station was operating at the time of the violent Tonypandy Riots of 1910.
This infamous event in Wales’s recent history resulted in local police officers and troops being called on by the then UK Home Secretary Winston Churchill, to contain and deal with miners in the bitter dispute over wages.
Many of those caught up in the disturbances are believed to have been arrested by police officers and military personnel operating from the Tonypandy police station. Miscreants would have been detained in the holding cells deep in the bowels of the now empty building which remain in place today.
DISTINCTIVE PAST
James Hollingsworth of Paul Fosh Auctions says: “The property consists of an imposing two-storey former police station constructed of stone walls under a pitched slate-covered roof, with a fascinating and distinctive past.
“Internally, the building provides a mixture of offices, mess room, kitchens and other ancillary areas, including intriguing, seemingly impregnable holding cells.”
The station occupies an elevated position above Dunraven Street and is accessed by a stone staircase. It sits in Tonypandy town centre, close to national retailers and approximately 20 miles north of Cardiff.
Hollingsworth adds: “The former police station benefits from planning permission for the provision of serviced office accommodation, providing scope for refurbishment and commercial use.”
The Paul Fosh Auctions sale opens at noon on 1 September and closes from noon on 3 September.
