‘Eyesore’ former hotel near Temple Meads could become display for public artworks

A crumbling former hotel that has stood abandoned in the heart of one of Bristol’s busiest road networks for nearly 30 years could soon showcase huge artworks from local talent.

In its glory days, The Grosvenor Hotel near Temple Meads was one the main stop-offs for visitors arriving in the city by steam train.

But the once-grand building has fallen into grotty disarray since its closure in the early 1990s, with some branding the boarded-up site an ‘eyesore’.

Now Spike Island firm Blink Giant Media are hoping to wrap the landmark building with an illuminated shroud that will feature public art funded by commercial advertising.

If the planning application lodged this month goes ahead, the graphics delivery company say the display will ‘improve the appearance’ of the site ‘before an acceptable development proposal is brought forward’, while also ‘capturing the imagination of the city’.

The project ‘aims is to utilise existing large format media sites as spaces for temporary public art’.

“The project will evolve as we explore a number of curatorial, commercial and partnership based approaches to deliver the project.

“The evolving approach will help to keep the story alive as we create a signature arts project and make Bristol sing.”