Royal Clarence Hotel: £17m Exeter flats plan revealed

The hotel once stood tall at its site opposite the Exeter's cathedral

Plans costing £17m have been revealed to restore an historic hotel building in Devon that was destroyed by fire.

Exeter's Grade II-listed Royal Clarence Hotel, in a prominent site facing Exeter Cathedral, was wrecked in 2016.

Property developer the Akkeron Group has announced proposals to restore the frontage "to its former glory" and build luxury apartments, a restaurant and a bar on the site.

The original facade and exterior would be reconstructed, the company said.

Akkeron said it was to carry out the work on behalf of South West Lifestyle Brands, which acquired the site in August 2020.

The new Royal Clarence would feature 23 luxury apartments, while the ground floor would be fully accessible to visitors with a large restaurant, a bar to replace the Well House Pub, and two function rooms, it said.

The fire in October 2016 gutted the historic building.

Akkeron chairman James Brent said the plans would "breathe new life into the historic and much-loved Royal Clarence building".

He said: "We are also focused on retaining as much of the building's historic fabric as possible, restoring the famous façade to its former glory, so the Royal Clarence will look much as it previously did before the fire."

The Royal Clarence is of historical significance.

The main building dated back to 1769 and contained several structures which went back to medieval times.

Much of it was lost after a fire in neighbouring premises on 28 October 2016 spread to the hotel, and a substantial amount of the remaining part was later demolished.

A public consultation on the proposals has been launched into the new proposals, featuring an interactive website.

Feedback from the community consultation, which runs until 22 December, would help to inform the proposals before a full planning application and an application for listed building consent were submitted to Exeter City Council in early 2022, developers said.