Hereford Hotel Demolition for Lidl Supermarket to Begin

The demolition of a significant hotel and events venue in Hereford is scheduled to commence, amidst objections that it should have been preserved. Approval was granted in April for the Three Counties Hotel, located off Belmont Road, to be razed and replaced by a Lidl supermarket. A legal challenge was lodged with Herefordshire Council by the protest group Save the Three Counties, asserting that the planning permission award did not adequately consider the hotel’s function as a community asset. Nevertheless, the retailer has since communicated with residents. In its correspondence, it specified that work to dismantle the hotel would start on 4 November and conclude by late January. Lidl stated its intention to be “keen to work in harmony with our neighbours and local residents,” providing contact numbers for both its own entity and its contractor, Wye Valley Demolition. The firm had indicated in July its desire to begin work “as early as possible,” following the dispatch of bailiffs to remove a group of travellers who had established a camp on the hotel site the preceding month. Subsequently, the wire mesh fencing surrounding the hotel site was replaced with two-metre-high wooden hoardings, treated with anti-climb paint, making the site largely obscured from external view. Lidl has announced its intention to appoint a contractor for the supermarket’s construction early next year.