Grosvenor Hotel: Use for ‘eyesore’ could finally be on horizon as Council reveal plans to buy it

It’s lain abandoned and crumbling near Temple Meads Station for nearly 30 years - but the Grosvenor Hotel could finally get a new lease of life as Bristol City Council reveal plans to buy and pin down a new use for the ‘eyesore’.

The authority is set to approve a ‘compulsory purchase order’ on the derelict building, just across the road from the station, as well as proposals to buy and revamp the George and Railway Hotel nearby as part of a £4m deal.

The plans would see Bristol City Council sell the George and Railway to developers Skanska/Railpen, who would convert the building into ‘small and medium-sized’ offices, before leasing it back to the authority.

A report to the cabinet doesn’t detail exactly what would happen to the Grosvenor if a separate compulsory purchase order on it goes through, but both buildings are considered key sites for the authority as it looks to regenerate the area around Temple Meads.

Residents having to walk past the decaying former hotel will no doubt be relieved to hear that decisions seem to be being made over its future, as it has been at the centre of a row over what should happen to it for decades.

In a document drawn up by council officers ahead of Bristol City Council’s cabinet meeting, when the proposal is expected to be approved, justification was given for the move for the compulsory purchase order.

It said attempts to negotiate with people interested in the site had been unsuccessful, adding that the purchase would lead to the promotion and improvement of economic activity in the area.

The hotel was built in 1875 and was once the place to be for visitors arriving in the city by steam train during its heyday, but it lost popularity towards the 1970s and by 1993 had shut down entirely.

Plans to redevelop the Grosvenor into student flats fell through in 2017, and an idea has since emerged to display artworks at the site, although that doesn’t solve the problem of the vandalised 147-year-old building itself.