Victorian group is ‘not amused’ over demolition
Building is on ‘Heritage at Risk’ register
The Victorian Society has expressed its disappointment that Scarborough Council agreed to the total demolition of the former Constitutional Club.
The Victorian civic building, in Huntriss Row, is part of the Scarborough Conservation Area which is already listed on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register.
The demolition will make way for an extension to the Premier Inn by creating an extra 89 bedrooms, bringing the total to more than 200.
Original plans approved by the council allowed for the front of the building to be retained, with the front actually being taken off to allow an extra storey to be created.
At a meeting last month of the council’s planning committee, where the demolition was approved, developer Gary Ledden said the cost to keep the front was £500,000, meaning the scheme would not be viable. Cllr Eric Broadbent said the council did “not want another Futurist on its hands”, saying that if they refused the application the building could sit empty for years.
James Hughes, senior conservation adviser at the Victorian Society, said: “It will deprive the town of one of its finer and more interesting historic buildings, and will cause substantial, unjustified and irreversible harm to the significance of the Scarborough Conservation Area.”
Historic England also opposed the scheme, claiming the building is aesthetically valuable.
Kerry Babington, inspector of historic buildings and areas at Historic England, said: “The application [for demolition] contained insufficient information to demonstrate that total demolition was the only option for the future use of this site in the conservation area.”
Heritage groups argue that the borough council’s approval of the demolition of a culturally significant building calls into question the future of Scarborough’s historically rich landscape.
The former Constitutional Club was erected in 1888 by architect Henry Arthur Cheers.