Hotel set to become new homes
An historic building on the riverfront at Stourport-on-Severn which faced an uncertain future has been saved and will be turned into homes, it was announced today.
British Waterways has sold The Tontine, built as a hotel and headquarters for the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company and opened in 1788, to Raybone Developments Ltd.
The Grade II listed building, empty for many years, is regarded as one of Worcestershire's most important Georgian buildings.
A search for someone willing to keep it as a hotel or restaurant proved unsuccessful and The Tontine was placed on a Buildings at Risk Register.
Now waterways officials believe that the sale has secured the future of the building which now seems set to be sympathetically restored and converted into 14 homes, subject to planning permission.
Wolverhampton & Dudley Brewery submitted plans to demolish the building in 1977 but it was saved by objectors led by the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman.
Adrian Middleton, British Waterways Midlands estates manager, said: "We look forward to seeing this wonderful building back in use during the next few years."
