Community raises £230k to buy derelict hotel

The Globe Hotel in Great Torrington is a Grade II listed building

Hundreds of thousands of pounds has been raised to buy a derelict hotel.

A community group has fundraised £230,000 and unlocked £526,000 in public funding - part of the £20m government regeneration fund - to buy the Globe Hotel in Great Torrington, Devon.

The group said it had exchanged contracts with the owner of the former hotel which closed in 2018.

It added the £520,000 grant would be spent on bringing the hotel back to life, with 11 bedrooms and a restaurant.

Doug Smith, chairman of the community group, said: "We've had some sleepless nights I can assure you and we've actually tried to get to this stage on several occasions before and been thwarted at the last minute."

He said a lot of people in the community had made memories at the Grade II listed building.

Mr Smith added when purchase plans were announced there was "a huge amount of excitement locally" and a crowdfunder had been used to raise the money.

"We know the town is behind us now that's the main thing, and if the town wasn't behind us there would be no point in doing this."

Mr Smith said: "Our ethos is everything will be community led.

"As a group, we the directors have put forward some concepts initially.... so we will present to our shareholders all the concepts and they will have input into what the interior of the hotel will look like and how it's run."

He added his dream was "to sit down in a nice restaurant and have a meal with all our friends or be able to sit in the bar and have a drink with them..."