News / Grosvenor Hotel
Demolition finally underway on derelict hotel
A building that was once one of Bristol’s grandest hotels is finally being demolished, bringing a long and sorry saga to an end.
Generations of older Bristolians will remember the Grosvenor Hotel on Portwall Lane East opposite Temple Meads as a place for celebrating special occasions, but in more recent years, it was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
The five-storey building that opened in 1875 to cater for passengers using the nearby station went on to become a bed and breakfast for homeless people in the late 1980s, before closing for good in 1993. In more recent years, it was lived in by squatters.
is needed now More than ever
Efforts have been made to save the historic hotel that was allowed to fall into rack and ruin, but a devastating fire in October 2022 helped seal the fate of the building that was already likely earmarked for demolition.
More than a year after the blaze that saw the area around the building cordoned off – and some ten months after approval was granted for its demolition – a crew from TR Demolition moved in to tear down what has become one of Bristol’s most notorious eyesores.
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Mayor Marvin Rees has welcomed the demolition of the dilapidated hotel, saying it has been “an eyesore in Bristol for far too long”.
He added: “Temple Quarter, one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects, can make this whole area into a gateway to our city to be proud of, with 10,000 new homes & 22,000 new jobs.”
Proposals submitted some time ago for the site of the Grosvenor Hotel could see a new pedestrianised public civic square, along with new office space and residential buildings, built in its place, but no definite plans have been confirmed for the prominent plot.
A building that was once one of Bristol’s grandest hotels is finally being demolished, bringing a long and sorry saga to an end
All photos: Martin Booth
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