Britain's oldest hotel destroyed in fire

insane200

insane200

insane200

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Britain's oldest hotel The Royal Clarence has been destroyed in a fire so far still going for 18 hours in Exeter city.

It started next door in a building being renovated, such a shame to see.

Also seems very few if any news channels have reported on it, #exeterfire is trending with updates, and o e mentions fire fighters were called back sue to fears of collapse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-37796576
 
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It's only the oldest hotel because it was the first to use the word derived from French. Still a shame no doubt, but hotels, known as inns, had been around for centuries before.
 
Technically speaking, now it isn't Britains oldest, it does pave the way for the 2nd oldest now becoming the oldest and so the cycle continues :P
 
It has nothing to do with insurrance, the fire started in the galery next door, although clearly it could have been much worse, the fire could have easily spread to old buildings on the highstreet as they are completely back to back (as apparently it did to but was contained).

where i live we could see and smell the smoke right upto around 10 last night.
 
amigafan2003 said:
This is a very popular approach in Blackpool. Seems like there is an old hotel burning down at least once a week.
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Get the same up here with a lot of the historical sea-front or riverside buildings.

"we wish to develop x in to y luxury flats"

"nope"

"oh no, the building has been gutted by fire"

"oh, go on then"
 
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robfosters said:
It's only the oldest hotel because it was the first to use the word derived from French. Still a shame no doubt, but hotels, known as inns, had been around for centuries before.
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yup have one 50m away from me that predates that place by 200 years, yeah it's a shame but it really is no loss historically.
 
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sneakysnail said:
yup have one 50m away from me that predates that place by 200 years, yeah it's a shame but it really is no loss historically.
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maybe not nationally, but to the city itself it is certainly is a loss concidering the history of the buildings, the date written on the top doesn't repressent the age, just one of the dates it had been altered (i'm not certain but i think it is when the top two floors were added). The origins dated back to the medieval period.

I doubt very much the fire happened as a result of refusal of modification plans. if there were plans to modernise anywhere in cathedral green it would certainly be well covered in the local media. Besides, as i mentioned earlier the fire didn't start in any of the botel buildings.
 
Terrible shame, sat opposite the hotel on the Cathedral green in the summer eating ice cream and the other half commented on what a beautiful building it was.
 
Was in town several times over the weekend and saw the smoke etc... and the massive lengths of hose running all the way to the river...

Had a Christmas lunch with work there a few years ago in the dining room which overlooks Cathedral Green - the interior was really spectacular, a great shame to have lost it all :( Thankfully the Well-House tavern (next door, between the Clarence and the Gallery where the fire started) seems to have possibly escaped without too much fire damage (though it's probably fairly wrecked anyway from all the water)

And that jerk Micheal Caine (previous owner) coming out talking about "did council budget cuts hinder the Fire service's ability to fight the blaze?"... What a pillock, I've never seen so many firemen in one place, all those platforms spraying water for a full 48 hours... seemed like they did everything they could to me

There's so many pictures of the Clarence I'm sure they'll be able to rebuild the hotel so that at least the exterior looks near-identical. Here's hoping anyway
 
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