12 April 2012
Last updated at 06:14 GMT

The Tuttle Street chimney dominates Wrexham’s skyline along with St Giles Church

Confusion over the sale of a landmark chimney in Wrexham has been resolved with a donation to a charity for British service veterans.

Former Wrexham MP and AM John Marek auctioned the former brewery chimney in Tuttle Street via eBay last October.

But he was unable to find the deeds showing he had acquired the building from brewer Marston’s 20 years ago.

The firm has since agreed to maintain the structure and has donated £1,400 to the Help For Heroes charity.

Built in 1894, the 120ft (36m) chimney was part of the former Soames brewery which later became part of Wrexham’s Border Brewery.

Former MP and AM John Marek could not find the deeds but has newspaper clippings of the handover

It closed in 1984 after a takeover by the Marston’s group and the future of the chimney was then put into doubt before Dr Marek agreed to become its custodian.

Dr Marek told BBC Wales that Marston’s former chairman gave him £2,000 if Dr Marek agreed to maintain its upkeep.

The former MP said the money was spent on insurance and repairs within three or four years of the 1988 deal and he had spent some £15,000 of his own money since then in preserving the chimney.

He said: “I imagine that the problem was the deeds were passed over to me just before the land registry was set up.

“Marston’s would have then drawn up a plan of their site for the registry, and that probably included the chimney as part of the plan.

“So it appeared on the land registry books as belonging to them.

Online auction

“I couldn’t find the deeds of the chimney but I could find front pages of the local newspaper with photographs of me receiving the deeds at the time.”

The firm which won Dr Marek’s online auction for the chimney was Subair UK, of Saltney Ferry, Flintshire.

The firm said it planned to sell plaques on the bricks of the Grade II-listed chimney for the Help for Heroes charity, which supports armed forces personnel injured in Britain’s current conflicts.

Dr Marek said he welcomed Marston’s decision to match the online auction deal with a donation to the charity and to ensure the upkeep of the chimney.

In a statement, Marston’s said: “We will be giving £1,400 to the charity Help for Heroes.”