News / Grosvenor Hotel
‘Eyesore’ hotel to remain only partially demolished
Heavy machinery remains outside the former Grosvenor Hotel but demolition work on the building appears to have ground to a halt.
Bedminster-based TR Demolition have not responded to questions about what is happening with the site opposite Temple Meads, where most of the original Victorian hotel has now been reduced to rubble but the 1930s extension is still standing.
It appears that the building’s owner only plans to have the fire-damaged section of the hotel demolished in order so the pavement, cycle lane and bus stop on Temple Gate can be reopened.
is needed now More than ever
TR Demolition’s equipment remains next to the Grosvenor Hotel but work appears to have stopped – photo: Martin Booth
On February 1, Marvin Rees tweeted it was “great that demolition is underway at the Grosvenor Hotel, an eyesore in Bristol for far too long”.
The mayor said that the Temple Quarter development which the former hotel sits in the middle of “can make this whole area into a gateway to our city to be proud of”.
But days after demolition started and then abruptly stopped, the shell of what was once one of Bristol’s grandest hotels is more of an eyesore than ever.
An anonymous source quoted in the Bristol Post said that owner Nimish Popat “has so far done the bare minimum so the road and pavement can reopen”.
“It’s about cost. He doesn’t want to spend any more than he possibly needs to.
“He’s offered the building and the site to the council, but the council isn’t willing to pay the amount he wants for it, so this is the situation.”
Coffee Box sits towards the end of ‘Brunel Mile’, part of which next to the Grosvenor Hotel remains fenced off since the fire in 2022 – photo: Martin Booth
The owner of the Coffee Box, which sits just a few yards away from the fenced off hotel and next to the truncated bike lane and footpath between Temple Meads and the city centre, told Bristol24/7 that the whole sorry saga with the Grosvenor has been “very annoying”.
The section of the Brunel Mile around the Grosvenor Hotel has been closed since the serious fire there in October 2022.
Coffee Box owner Ben John told Bristol24/7: “I did say when they started the demolition, I’ll believe it when I see it and it seems to have been true.
“I speak to a lot of people down here and I understand the owner at the moment has managed to find another loophole to halt proceedings.
“I’m a bit gutted really. I thought we were finally going to be able to start tidying up the place.
“This is the first thing you see when you get off the train and it’s not the welcome to Bristol sight you want.
“Hopefully they can get their act together and sort it out sooner rather than later because it has been quite a few years.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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