An application to demolish part of the Royal Albion Hotel on Brighton seafront has been refused because there are no plans for a replacement.
The retrospective application was submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council in June, two years after fire ravaged the grade II listed old “Lion Mansion Hotel” section of the building.
A report published yesterday (Monday 29 September) said: “The proposal involves the demolition of a grade II listed building within the Valley Gardens Conservation Area and, with no plans for a replacement development, results in substantial harm to heritage assets and their setting and creates an unsightly and prominent gap in a highly visible location.
“In addition, insufficient information or records have been provided to enable a full assessment of the significance of the historic features of the building.”
The council gave a second reason for refusal – the loss of a hotel in Brighton and Hove’s “hotel core zone”.
The council’s heritage team accepted that the Lion Mansion Hotel portion of the building had been demolished for safety reasons.
Even though architectural features were saved during the demolition process, the heritage team was concerned that these items were not mentioned in the application.
Only one of the three lions on the building was mentioned. One was over the north entrance and two were over the south west portico.
There was also concern about the whereabouts of two blue plaques, particularly one commemorating a visit from William Gladstone who was Prime Minister four times during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The heritage report said: “As there are no redevelopment plans, we cannot recommend approval of this application.
“Historic England has also raised concerns about the lack of a replacement scheme and confirmed they will not be ‘delisting’ the hotel.”
The fire started on Saturday 15 July 2023 and destroyed much the oldest part of the building on the seafront side, in Grand Junction Road.
Part of the western end of the premises had to be demolished so that firefighters could reach the blaze which destroyed the five-storey building right down to the basement.
In the aftermath, the council stepped in to ensure that the A259 seafront road could reopen safely and as soon as possible, with businesses such as the Palace Pier reporting a significant dent in their revenues.
The road was closed again in February when the council was warned that the scaffolding and part of the remaining structure was at risk of collapse.
A specialist report published in Britannia’s planning application to formalise the demolition process said that what remained in February this year was in “poor condition”.
The report, by Structural Surveys, a Birmingham company, said that “even a modest wind” could cause further cracking to the remaining three-storey wall.
Britannia Hotels has paid £500,000 towards the seven-figure costs of demolishing the “Lion Mansion Hotel” section of the building after the fire in July 2023.
In March this year the council issued a further invoice for £988,000 to Britannia Hotels to recover the costs of demolition and making the site safe.
Britannia Hotels was approached for comment.
So have Britannia paid that £988k invoice?
What about any charges since that invoice was submitted?
Just demolish it. Whole building is a mess. Then britannia can sell it and we have have a new (mock old) version run by a real company rather than these cowboys
Britannia. They owe us a fortune, yet we pay them a fortune to house migrants in squalor. Greedy scummy company. The CEO is a low life criminal.
But it would seem an excellent businessman. I would hold your anger for those that pay him.
As far as I’m aware the Albion wasn’t used to house anyone other than regular paying guests.
I believe there was some emergency accommodation usage. Victims of domestic abuse and the like. Rarely, though and short-term, because it’s a costly way of doing it, as you can imagine.
As a Grade II listed building, the Royal Albion lawfully needs to re reconstructed to its former glory. An iconic part of the seafront and character of Brighton. Take Britannia hotels to court if their insurers won’t pay or compulsorily purchase the building from them at a token price for negligence.
That’s a very bad idea. To start with, being G2L doesn’t create a legal duty to rebuild it brick for brick. It just means any works must preserve the building’s significance.
The council can’t acquire it for a “token price” either; the law requires market-value compensation plus costs, so a hostile CPO would run into millions and years of litigation. Considering you were just recently criticising BHCC for it’s budget, this would do the excat opposite of your previous stance.
And “just sue the insurer” isn’t a lever the council can pull; coverage disputes turn on policy wording and evidence of negligence, which isn’t simple to prove and not a sure-fire win.
Little seems to have been said about the impact of these delays. I hope that this is taken into consideration when bills are submitted. Dust, loss of amenity of Pool Valley and thus exponentially, the wider road system. Britannia are a shambolic excuse for a hospitality company. The removal of certain artefacts is suspicious but their loss was predicted at the time and no action was taken. I suspect there may even be a criminal case to answer. I think that the lack of payment should be actioned sooner than later. This money could preserve things like library services.
The money hasn’t come from normal budget so hasn’t affected day to day council services.
Though I’m not sure what amenities have been lost at Pool Valley.
To be honest catching the National Express outside of the AO hostel has been a better experience that it used to be in PV.
TBH I thnk an opportunity has been lost in the VG 3 project in not having a dedicated coach stand for National Express put in as part of the scheme.
I agree with you Chris, Pool Valley always did seem awkward as a coach area.
The Lion Mansions at Brighton Pool Valley had several blue plaques and lions on display . We understand the blue plaques are safely stored . Are the lions also in safe storage ?
The part that was destroyed was not the oldest part of the building, but a later addition.
I am not really clear what refusing this application is going to achieve. Surely the question of what to put there instead can wait for another day?
Why not built on a nice Toby carvery in Brighton then on the site then or built a nice new bus station for the all of Brighton then and move all the bus stop one to one area of Brighton then
And lost the hotel then as Brighton really does need a other hotel near the seafront area