Eyesore hotels should be kept as bars, says CAMRA
PUB campaigners are urging Bristol City Council to scrap major plans to demolish an eyesore former hotel and turn another next door into offices and instead restore them to their former glory as bars.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says the authority’s proposals to buy or compulsory purchase both the derelict Grosvenor Hotel and the George and Railway building, opposite Temple Meads railway station, are “lacking both in imagination and ambition”.
It says many of the old Victorian interior features of the buildings are still intact and that an architectural survey should be carried out to determine the properties’ potential as a new pub/hotel gateway to Bristol.
Council cabinet members on Tuesday rubber-stamped the latest stage of plans to transform the area which includes spending £4million on a deal to bring the old George and Railway Hotel back into use.
It will then be sold to a development company which will redevelop the property into small and mediumsized offices before being leased back to the council to manage and rent out to companies.
That comprises the first phase, and the report to cabinet gave fewer details about the Grosvenor Hotel, but previously announced plans to bulldozed and replace it with a towering glass block, Engine Shed 2.
The intention is to then create a modern new public space called Temple Square Plaza, with the council seeking to buy Station Approach, the land in front of the station’s main entrance.
But in a statement to cabinet, CAMRA’s Nigel Morris said: “Whilst we welcome compulsory purchase proposals for both buildings and the restoration of the George and Railway, we have grave reservations over some of the proposed outcomes which, sadly, we find lacking both in imagination and ambition.
“We would like to see the original interior of the public bar restored and retained, including wall seating, ceiling mouldings, ceiling rose etc, and see the building reused as a cafe, restaurant and bar with good-quality hotel accommodation on the first floor.
“A full architectural survey should be carried out to assess the building’s potential.
“We believe that the Grosvenor Hotel can also be saved with a public bar/restaurant on the ground floor with hotel accommodation upstairs.”
He said the original Victorian footprint could be retained and the 1950s extension demolished and replaced with something more appropriate.
Mr Norris said: “We are aware that original Victorian balustrades still survive throughout on several floors of the building and we therefore would support a full architectural survey.
“We welcome the conference and meeting rooms as part of Engine Shed 2 with a new sympathetic extension to the George and Railway pub.”
His written statement was noted but not read out at the meeting, instead cabinet members welcomed the report outlining the office plans and compulsory purchase orders authorisation.
Cllr Nicola Beech said: “I’m so glad after all these years we’ve been campaigning and working on Temple Meads and Temple Quarter regeneration.
“I really look forward to the day when we can stand at the station and say ‘Just go down the Brunel Mile, it’s right there’ and it will be this beautiful boulevard that connects to the city.”
Deputy mayor Cllr Asher Craig said: “I’m really excited about what’s to come That’s an eyesore that has been a pain for Bristol for a very long time.”