Inside the wreck of the Grange Hotel

Aug 27 2008 by David Rutland, Rhyl Visitor

Devastated

RHYL’S landmark Grange Hotel is unlikely to ever be restored to its former glory following a fire in March.

Drunks, homeless people and tramps are still squatting in the burnt out shell of the once thriving building, while carpets, fixtures and fittings have been stolen.

Last week the Visitor took a tour of the boarded-up building with Trevor Roberts responsible for security on the site.

While the hotel’s mock Tudor frontage does not look badly damaged from the road, the back is a different story and most of the building, including the back bar, is now just piles of rubble and melted slag.

In the few rooms that remain undamaged by the fire, radiators have been stripped out, copper pipes stolen and basins removed.

Staircases lead to holes in the wall hanging over vacant space where bedrooms and the reading rooms used to be.

Several times a week, Trevor visits the building to throw out squatters and he believes it is inevitable that the Grange will be set on fire again.

“A lot of people left in a hurry and left clothing behind, but they keep coming back and we keep having to throw them out again” he said. “How they get in, God only knows. We’ve boarded up everywhere basically and all we can do is keep throwing them out.

“But it’s only a matter of time before somebody else sets fire to what’s left. There’s going to be somebody coming up here drunk or on drugs, playing round with a box of matches and then it’s all gone.

“People see the Grange Hotel from the road and phone the Victorian Society and everyone else, but they don’t see the utter devastation around the back.

“It’s just gone. All that’s left is the front, but people still think it can be saved.

“The place was a rabbit warren and filled with smoke it would have been quite horrendous.

“It’s complete and utter devastation. Me and my sons are looking after the hotel in its final death throes and I can never ever see it coming back as the Grange.”

Downstairs, the bar area was not badly affected by the inferno and glasses still stand on tabletops.

Expensive parquet flooring has been ripped up and some of it has been removed by unknown persons and artefacts have been taken out of the building and thrown into the backyard.

A decision on the building’s future is expected in the next few months.

To see our new video of the Grange, visit www.rhylvisitor.co.uk and click on the link for the Day to Day blog.