A FRESH attempt is being made to demolish one of Bournemouth's last remaining Jewish hotels and replace it with flats.

The Normandie Hotel in Manor Road, which bills itself as the UK's premier kosher hotel, could be replaced by 43 holiday flats and 10 residential flats under plans lodged by property developer Dasim Partners.

A previous attempt to convert the hotel was made in 2005 when the hotel's owners claimed the business was losing £430,000 a year and required a cash investment of £1.8 million.

Bournemouth council disputed this and refused the application to replace the hotel with four maisonettes and a block of 38 flats.

And when the case went to appeal, a government inspector sided with the council and said the loss of the hotel would harm the town's tourist trade.

The hotel's future then came under the spotlight again last year when an application to replace the hotel with holiday flats was refused.

The Normandie Hotel was relaunched as one of Bournemouth's leading Kosher hotels in 1998, following a £500,000 revamp.

If it is demolished, it will leave Bournemouth with just two Jewish hotels, both owned by the Acacia Group.

A spokesperson for Trinity Architecture, the Poole-based company which is acting as agent for Dasim Partners, stressed the scheme was primarily for holiday flats with just a handful of residential units.

She added there was no timescale for the demolition of the hotel, if planning permission was granted.