Hotel fire
A blaze swept through a hotel in Ayr town centre in the early hours of Monday. The former Elms Court, on Miller Road, was gutted by flames.
Firefighters tackled a blaze at an abandoned hotel in Ayr’s town centre in the early hours of Monday morning.
The former Elms Court, on Miller Road, was gutted by flames as the inferno took hold in the vacant building. Scottish Fire and Rescue crews were called to the scene just after 3.30am.
A faint smokey smell lingered in the air as the road remained closed to traffic until after 11am to allow crews to assess the damage.
Elms Court is the second disused hotel in the area to be gutted by flames in the last month.
Belleisle House went up in flames on Friday, June 14, after hotel boss John Campbell admitted starting the fire by accident while trying to repair the roof.
An eyewitness to the Elms Court fire said they were wakened by the smell of smoke shortly after 4am.
They said: “We saw a fire engine on Dalblair Road pumping water through to a fire on Miller Road. When we looked closer, we realised it was Elms Court.
“It’s so sad to see another one of the town’s former lively hotels burn to the ground.
“And to think this happened just weeks after the Belleisle fire.
“These places hold lots of memories for many and it’s sad to see them go to waste.”
No one was injured as a result of the fire. But the road was closed in both directions to allow fire crews to deal with the inferno.
A fire service spokesman said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 3.32am on Monday, July 1, to reports of a fire in a vacant building on Miller Road, Ayr.
“Operations Control mobilised four fire appliances to the scene and firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. There are no reported casualties.”
The Elms Court is understood to have been established during the Second World War, in 1940.
And the 18- bed hotel boomed in the post- war years, hosting hundreds of dinner- dances and other top events. In its heyday, it was home to top jockeys, trainers and punters attending Ayr Races.
Elms Court was bought for a knock - down price of £ 340,000 in June 2017.
Rumours anticipated the site becoming flats and six years ago a plan to create four homes on part of the site was approved but never acted upon.
In April, the Post reported that the rear of the property had become strewn with building rubble including bricks, mortar, household rubbish and other materials.
Some observers said there was as much as 50 tonnes of waste lying at the site, including what appeared to be an abandoned car.