Deal could breathe new life into historic hotel
COUNCIL MOVE TO BUY ICONIC BIRTHPLACE OF RUGBY LEAGUE MAY END LONG-RUNNING SAGA
sad saga of Huddersfield’s George Hotel, closed and neglected for years, could soon be at an end.
Year-long talks with owner Altaf Hussain have resulted in a deal being tabled that will see Kirklees Council buy the iconic 1850s building, famed as the birthplace of Rugby League.
It can only be good news.
And as the council prepares the first stages of its visionary Huddersfield Blueprint - a £250m plan to transform and renew the town centre - the Victorian hotel and its key position on St George’s Square will be front and centre.
Concern has been growing at the state of the George and the uncertainty over its future since its troubles began in 2012 and it closed for good early in 2013.
There have been petitions to “seize” it, calls for the council to intervene and buy it and demands for sanctions against Mr Hussain for leaving a much-loved building to rot.
In January a group of concerned Huddersfield residents and businesspeople opted for the direct approach of attaching a banner to railings in front of the hotel. Its message was blunt: “This building is a disgrace to our town.”
A spokesperson for the group, which opted to remain anonymous, said the banner was created to put pressure on the council and the owner to make progress with the George.
There has been sharp criticism of Kirklees Council for its reluctance to act decisively by compulsorily purchasing the building.
In September 2018 the council’s regeneration champion, Clr Peter McBride, said: “We cannot compulsorily purchase [key buildings] willy-nilly. It would be irresponsible if we just speculatively invested.
“The council is not going to take [the George Hotel] on. We haven’t got the resources to be able to do that.”
But within months the position had changed.
In February 2019 Clr Naheed
Mather revealed that the council was talking to the owners of the George Hotel and the nearby Station Warehouse to investigate what support could be given “to bring forward a deliverable scheme”.
It was the first time the council had admitted that it was seeking a solution to the problem of the George before it deteriorated further.
Yet there have been plans along the way.
Dentist-cum-entrepreneur Mr Hussain, who is understood to have paid around £900,000 for the building following its shock closure, announced plans to renovate the George, a Grade II*-listed building and once the most prestigious hotel in Huddersfield.
The revamp involved creating a boutique hotel by cutting capacity from 60 rooms to 30 and creating 11 apartments and a rooftop bar plus a dental surgery. The project was granted planning permission in 2015.
That same year the hotel went back on the market. Price tag: £3m.
When that scheme proved financially unviable architects Acumen went back to the concept of a hotel.
In May 2019 they proposed 52 rooms and a spa along with a bar, coffee shop and restaurant comTHE