Homes Under The Hammer presenter Martin Roberts has admitted he is ignoring the advice of doctors to take on his new pub renovation project as he is more ‘driven’ than ever.
The 61-year-old TV star was rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery in 2022 after mistaking chest pains for long Covid.
But Martin learned he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the structure around the heart, and was rushed into surgery that saved his life.
Motivated after his brush with death, in July of this year Martin won a planning bid to open his own pub in a Welsh village, despite having no prior experience in the hospitality industry.
Now, speaking to The Sun about his mammoth new project and his health, the BBC presenter has revealed he wants to ‘get on with’ what he wants to accomplish in his life rather than ‘taking it easy’.
He candidly told the publication: ‘So, rather than me doing what I have been told to do, which is sit in a chair, take it easy, not get stressed, look after my heart, all that kind of stuff.
‘I’m like, I’ve got to get on with this s**t, because I do not know how long I’ve got to go, and it could all end tomorrow.’
Homes Under The Hammer presenter Martin Roberts has admitted he is ignoring the advice of doctors to take on his new pub renovation project (pictured in 2022)
In July of this year Martin won a planning bid to open his own pub in a Welsh village, despite having no prior experience in the hospitality industry
The star also clarified that it’s not about the money, it’s about what he will be ‘remembred for’ in the community.
He added: ‘It almost did, I was three hours away from death so I am even more driven to do things, not to make me money, because it’s certainly not doing that, but to do some good, and to do a community thing, and just to change lives.’
Martin’s exciting new renovation project has even sparked an idea for a new docuseries, which will air on ITV in the new year and follow the star as he takes on the huge task.
The publication also reported that teens who are working towards construction qualifications will be involved in the project.
In July 2022 Martin bought the Hendrewen Hotel in for a reported £200,000 and admitted he didn’t tell wife Kirsty about the ‘accidental’ purchase in the village of Blaencwm, Rhondda, almost exactly halfway between Swansea and Cardiff.
He was given the green light by council officials to transform the former hotel into a gastropub with luxury accommodation.
It is his second such venture after he turned a nearby farm into a B&B – but this time, he is being followed around by cameras for the TV series.
Martin bought the Hendrewen after falling in love with the Rhondda Tunnel Society, a project to reopen a disused railway line under a mountain as a cycle path linking two Welsh valleys together.
He was given full planning consent by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council to extend, redevelop and refurbish the entire hotel and beer garden.
The 61-year-old TV star was rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery in 2022 after mistaking chest pains for long Covid
But Martin learned he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the structure around the heart, and was rushed into surgery that saved his life
The BBC presenter has revealed he wants to ‘get on with’ what he wants to accomplish in his life rather than ‘taking it easy’
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Martin Roberts breaks his silence on emergency heart surgery as he confesses he struggles with the mental effects more than the physical
The ambitious plans also include developing a two-storey detached bedroom block containing six disabled bedrooms, as well as a village shop, and an activity storage building.
A planning report on its approval said: ‘The proposed works would create an attractively designed development, providing additional tourist bed space and facilities of a scale appropriate to the size of the site and its location.
‘The development would secure the future of the business, be beneficial to both locals and visitors, and would support(…) the rural economy and its communities.’
Speaking previously, he said: ‘It just cried out to me and I just thought I want to take that on, I want to renovate it, I want to turn it into a place that people would want to come to.’
Martin was backed in the plans by funding from Welsh Government body Business Wales although he says he had to dig deep into his own pockets.
He said: ‘I am ploughing so much money and so much time and so much effort into this, it’s really scary, really daunting.
‘There are times that I wake up in the night in a cold sweat because I know I’ve got to do this for the community – I’ve got to do it, and I will do it, but every day there’s a list as long as your arm of problems to solve.’
He said that if successful, the Rhondda Tunnel would enable people to cycle it was ‘basically be quicker to cycle from Rhondda to Swansea than it is now to drive it’.
He said: ‘I’m like, I’ve got to get on with this s**t, because I do not know how long I’ve got to go, and it could all end tomorrow’
The star also clarified that it’s not about the money, it’s about what he will be ‘remembred for’ in the community
‘It’s an amazing thing and it doesn’t need a whole lot of money,’ he said.
Last year, opening up on his health scare to The Sun’s TV Mag, he quipped ‘A year ago, I had a problem with my heart that hadn’t been noticed.
‘The sack around my heart had expanded and was putting pressure on the heart. I had less than a few hours to live.
‘Had I not been in the right place… Three weeks earlier I was on the road in a transit van and if it had happened then, I would be dead.’
Martin added that his health scare has left him ‘willing to try anything’ so he signed up for the E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox, which sees stars trying therapies including drinking their own urine.
In the debut episode, Martin admitted to feeling ‘rocked to his core’ by his health scare.
Introducing himself on the gruelling show, which came with a warning for viewers not to try the tasks at home, Martin reflected on his ‘frighteningly horrible year’.
He said: ‘This year has been a frighteningly horrible year for me. A few months ago, I had a near-death experience and that’s rocked me to my core.
‘I actually want this to make a difference, do I think it will happen? The jury’s out.’
Throughout the first episode, Martin took part in an array of extreme tasks, including drinking his own urine and digesting seeds which cause vomiting.
Elsewhere, in an interview with The Mirror he confessed: ‘I can’t understate the mental after-effects of what happened to me. The physical stuff you get over, but it’s the overriding thought it could have all ended.
‘Everything you tried to do, and your family, you realise it could all be gone. I was told I needed to slow down and I’ve gone the other way. Hopefully I’ve got many years but you never know.
‘That whole thing that happened to me makes you realise how thin a thread we dangle from. But you can’t go through life living in that fear.’