ANOTHER Bournemouth hotel could be demolished and replaced with flats under fresh proposals. 

Developers have earmarked the Winter Dene Hotel site in Durley Road South, West Hill for 29 new flats with parking. 

Documents handed in to BCP Council as part of the planning application say the hotel has seen an 18.5 per cent fall in visitors since pre-pandemic levels. 

Planning consultant Pure Town Planning said the hotel is “no longer commercially viable”, blaming competition from budget and branded hotels with “newer and better facilities”. 

(Image: Daily Echo)

It also blamed a "significant pipeline of new hotel rooms” being granted by BCP Council as another reason for Winter Dene Hotel’s struggles as well as the “unlicenced Airbnb market”. 

There’s no escaping the fact that hotels across Bourneko0uth have been going through dramatic changes since the Covid pandemic – for better or for worse. 

The previous owners of the Trouville Hotel were laden with debts of nearly £1m and the Queens Hotel fell into administration owing more than £17m. 

Meanwhile, the Royal Bath Hotel is undergoing a £1m-plus refurbishment and the Norfolk Royale Hotel is also having some £1.2m changes. 

And the self-described friendliest hotel in town, the Lynden Court Hotel in Durley Road, has recently been demolished to make way for 37 flats. 

If BCP Council approved the planning application by Domesticus Ltd, the new four storey apartment block could come with space for five cars and 43 cycle spaces. 

Pure Town Planning added: “The proposal constitutes an architectural design which would make a positive contribution to the built environment, fitting in well with the established pattern of development in the locality.  

(Image: Daily Echo)

“Through the use of traditional design and the inclusion of many period features, such as bay windows, stone headers, decorative brick work and a turret similar to that found on the building to be demolished, the proposal would sit comfortably within its setting and especially next to the recently approved developments that border the sit.

“Externally, the building will be finished with stone on the ground floor and brick on the floors above. The roof is proposed to be traditional slate.” 

Winter Dene Hotel is a Victorian villa with its own grounds just metres from West Cliff.