‘Rough-looking’ historic hotel faces demolition

The historic landmark which lies within a conservation area is said to be “structurally unsound and incapable of conversion” according to a planning report.

Filey Town Council and Scarborough’s conservation officer has objected strongly to the proposal to turn the site into eight two-bedroom apartments on Queen Street but seemingly to no avail.

The town council says the building should be “rebuilt like-for-like as far as possible with the same height and footprint and no dormer windows in the roof.

“The existing building is an important focal point in Queen Street and the new building would be intrusive, lack character and look out of place in the conservation area.

“There should be no abundance of windows in the Reynolds Street elevation.

“The existing Victorian letterbox must be retained and resited in the same location in any new building.”

Yesterday Filey town councillor Kerry Burton said: “I have lived in Filey all my life but it (the Crown Hotel) is looking a bit rough now so I think it would be better if it was brought down.

“It is looking derelict and could be made into a better building.

“Ideally I would like to see it cleaned up.”

According to the Scarborough Borough Council report “tests on the building fabric have shown that the building is no longer capable of being converted, due to inherent weaknesses in the construction materials.

“These came to light when the rendered exterior of the building was removed. In light of this compelling, independent technical evidence, the council’s conservation officer concludes that a strong case for demolition has been put forward and therefore the principle of demolition is acceptable,” the report said.

It added that the “loss of the original Crown Hotel is unfortunate” but acknowledged that permission should be granted subject to several conditions.