Work on demolishing one of Bristol’s most infamous eyesore buildings could start imminently after council planners finally gave the go-ahead. The owner of the former Grosvenor Hotel has been given permission to demolish the building, which was badly damaged by a devastating fire on October 18 last year.
Nimish Popat was ordered by magistrates to make the building safe back in November, after the council took him to court, but nothing seems to have happened there in the five months since. The building opposite Temple Meads station has been empty and derelict for at least 25 years, but efforts to restore it, redevelop it or to compulsory purchase it have been frustrated.
Mr Popat and his company Earlcloud submitted an application to see if they needed permission to demolish the building, which was submitted to City Hall on December 8. It has taken Bristol City Council’s planning team more than four months to decide that Earlcloud did need permission to, and subsequently that he could, demolish the building.
