Blaze-hit Bridgnorth hotel will be rebuilt, say owners

Husband and wife Ben and Sarah Reeves have pledged to spend £2 million restoring the fire-ravaged hotel to its former glory – on top of the £490,000 they spent buying the site at auction last week.

The remains of the hotel, which was destroyed in a huge fire on May 18, will be demolished and rebuilding work is not expected to start until next year.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing, according to Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The hotel was a popular wedding venue for hundreds of couple across Shropshire and the West Midlands until it closed suddenly in September last year and its parent company Elysian Care Ltd went into administration.

Mr Reeves, who along with his wife runs wedding venue operators Ensarb Ltd, said: "We take over as owners of the Mill on August 25 when contracts are exchanged, then we will start to develop our plans.

"We want to rebuild the site as a hotel, but at the moment we don't have any designs or plans in mind, it all has to be decided.

"We expect to start consultations with the council before Christmas, then we can get to work and we have earmarked £2 million for the project.

"But as a first step it looks like we will have to completely demolish what is left of the property before any rebuilding work is done.

"The Mill has great potential and has all the things you need to make a venue work.

"It's in a great location and has great transport links, the sort of things that are essential for any business that people have to get to.

"We found out about the Mill only a week before the auction and it sounded exactly the sort of property we were looking for.

"The auction itself was tense, but they usually are. The guide price said it would go for £250,000 plus and with the guide price the plus is always relevant."

The couple started renovating properties when they bought The Ashes in 2006, a Grade II-listed farm in north Staffordshire that was in a severe state of disrepair but reopened as a hotel in 2008.

Ensarb also bought Pendrell Hall in 2011, a Victorian property in Codsall Wood that they subsequently opened as a wedding venue in 2013.

The inspiration to get into the wedding venue business came from the couple's own experiences when they married in 2002 and could not find a venue which had the edge they wanted.

A spokesman for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "The next stage of the investigation is a structured de-brief involving all the fire officers involved in the incident and those from other emergency services.

"The investigation process can take longer if any legal proceedings are involved, but at this moment there are none."