Demolition underway for Bristol's Grosvenor Hotel

Crews began tearing down the building on Saturday

A long-awaited demolition of a derelict hotel has begun.

Plans to demolish The Grosvenor Hotel, Bristol, were submitted to the council last January, following an arson attack in October 2022.

The building's owners, Earlcloud Ltd, were ordered by Bristol magistrates to either demolish the building or make it structurally safe.

On Saturday, crews from TR Demolition arrived with heavy machinery to tear down the landmark hotel.

Opening in 1875, the hotel once offered luxurious respite for rail passengers from the nearby Temple Meads station, which opened 35 years earlier.

By the late 1980s, the local authority was renting the building to provide accommodation to homeless families in the city.

But in 1993, it officially closed its doors following structural safety concerns.

Since fire ripped through the building in 2022, the charred shell left behind was one of Bristol's biggest eyesores.

The council said the building was left in a "fundamentally dangerous condition", and Earlcloud director Nimish Popat said demolition was the only option, as the fire had rendered the east and south elevations "unsafe".

The future of the site remains unclear, but previous plans from the city council proposed a new civic square and office buildings to replace the hotel.

The pavement and part of the road at Temple Way will be cordoned off while demolition takes place to allow an exclusion zone around the building.