A welcome return home for the Olympic Torch
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Hotel closure is concern for town
Thursday 19th June 2008, 11:00AM BST.
The immediate re-opening of a historic Newport hotel is vital to the £1million regeneration of the town because it provides a central meeting place and focus, a councillor has warned.
Councillor Eric Carter, cabinet member for regeneration at Telford & Wrekin Council, said he contacted Marston’s brewery as soon as he found out the landlord, Neil Hancock and his wife Nicola, had left the 24-bedroom Royal Victoria Hotel hotel, urging it to find a manager.
“That hotel is the focal point in the town,” he said.
“The last thing we would want to do is to see the beautiful hotel stand empty for many months.
“We are looking to regenerate Newport with £1million.
“This is something so important, we cannot allow it to remain closed.”The hotel’s closure forced groups including the Chamber of Commerce and the Round Table to find new meeting venues.
Mr and Mrs Hancock, who had run the hotel on St Mary’s Street for the last six-and-half-years, moved out on Monday after claiming Marston’s proposed hike in rent and a boom in beer prices had forced him out.
A spokeswoman for Marston’s Pub Company said it had done all it could to help and had written to the Government about the duty increase on beer.
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