Exeter hotel could become luxury flats

£17m scheme to be considered

Exeter’s historic Royal Clarence Hotel, destroyed in a fire six years ago, could finally be restored and turned into luxury flats.

The city council’s planning committee will consider the plans at a meeting next week, with officers recommending approval.

The iconic Grade II listed building, which dates back to 1769 and overlooks Exeter Cathedral, was ravaged by the blaze in October 2016 that started in neighbouring buildings and spread to the hotel.

A previous plan to build a 74-bedroom hotel on the site failed to materialise. It was then sold to Southwest Lifestyle Brands Ltd – a company run by former Plymouth Argyle owner James Brent.

After his firm called the hotel plan “unviable,” it revealed a £17 million scheme to restore the front of the building to “its former glory” and build 23 luxury apartments, a restaurant and a bar on the site.

The apartments will be spread over five floors. A restaurant and pub, as part of the reconstructed Well House Tavern Pub, will be on the ground floor, as well as commercial food and drink unit.

The development will contain 15 two-bed apartments and eight three-bed apartments, with an entrance to the front of the building from the Cathedral Yard.

According to the planning report, it has been designed to “retain and showcase as many historical features of the remaining building fabric as possible.

“This includes the remaining facade facing Cathedral Green, the majority of the facade facing Martin’s Lane and the central spine walls, except where minor removals are necessary to facilitate window openings/circulation.”

It says the building will be reconstructed to closely match the look of the former hotel, adding: “This includes the Royal Clarence lettering, crests and ironwork.”

Recommending approval, officers conclude the development “will result in substantial public benefits, primarily by redeveloping a derelict site in the heart of the city centre whilst retaining and restoring as much of the listed historic fabric of the remaining buildings on the site as possible”.

The report adds: “It will revitalise this corner of the Cathedral precinct Tourism Action Area and bring further vitality to the city centre through both the commercial and residential uses.

“The public benefits of the scheme are considered to outweigh the harm of the partial demolition works of some of the listed buildings on the site, including the demolition of the remains of 6 Martin’s Lane.

“These works are necessary to deliver the scheme and because some parts of the building have become unsalvageable following weather exposure since the 2016 fire.”

Planning committee members will vote on the application next Monday [10 October].