THE wait for a Haddington town centre venue to re-open is to be extended, after work stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Work on the town’s Corn Exchange began in February last year, with East Lothian Council initially expecting to see the building re-open at the start of November 2019.

However, that date was pushed back when specialist contractors carried out extensive survey work and found additional work was required.

Now work on the Court Street building has stopped due to Government guidance surrounding coronavirus.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Work has stopped on the Corn Exchange. They continued as long as they could but Government guidelines mean all non-essential construction work has been suspended.

“This will obviously have an impact on completion dates but, until we know when these restrictions will be lifted, it is impossible to evaluate what that will be.

“We expect the completion timescales from restrictions being lifted to be longer than the lockdown period itself, as the site will need to get back up and running again.

“This would include organising and co-ordinating sub-contractors who may have businesses that have been affected by the closure.”

In 2017, East Lothian Council set aside more than £800,000 to cover the cost of revamping the building.

Work on the building, which has held events ranging from art exhibitions to a performance by The Proclaimers, is to include new roof lights, roof repairs and repairing the timber flooring in the main hall.