Preston's former Park Hotel 'smashed up by teens hurling abuse at locals'

The Post has obtained pictures of teenage intruders - both male and female - staring out of smashed windows on an upper floor of the once prestigious venue.

The individual who took the photographs - who asked not to be named - said that in recent weeks a gang had been entering the building “every night and smashing it up” whilst also “hurling abuse” at people on East Cliff, the road on which the run-down city icon stands.

In the pictures, one of the males is masked, but the rest of the contingent are bare-faced and brazen as they look out onto the street below and even defiantly seem to face-down the camera capturing their images.

A girl - one of two who can be seen sporting sunglasses in a dark room on a dull day - appears in one photo to have grinned and posed for the shot taken by a concerned local.

The Post understands that several alleged vandalism incidents are now under investigation by police, who have been sent the images showing youths on one of their forays into the building.

A dog patrol is amongst the deterrents that have now been put in place in the wake of the incidents. The building was already fenced off from the public.

Pictures taken by the Post show the scale of the damage done to the building, with several windows on the top two floors shattered.

Details of the attacks on the much-loved piece of Preston’s history come just days after the latest plans for its future emerged.

As the Post reported last week, a stalled attempt to restore the 140-year-old venue to its long-forgotten glory and bring it back into operation as a hotel appears to have been abandoned after a new blueprint was put forward to create 440 apartments on the site instead.

The proposed scheme, which has been brought forward by The Heaton Group, would involve the conversion of the hotel itself and the construction of two residential blocks - one eight storeys high and the other nine - in its grounds. Another existing building - number 8 East Cliff, which was built in the mid-1830s - would also be converted

The plans have seemingly put paid to a previously approved vision to create 71 hotel guest rooms in the main building, another 44 in a new block on the site and capacity for around 200 diners in a new banqueting suite pavilion that was to have been built overlooking Avenham and Miller parks. A health spar would also have been developed on the site of number 8.

That proposal was approved by Lancashire County Council's development control committee in January 2019 after being put on the table by the The Local Pensions Partnership (LPP), a joint venture between County Hall and the London Pensions Fund Authority - but no visible progress has been made on it since.

LPP - which is a separate entity to the county council, but administers its pension fund - acquired the building in 2016, five years after the local authority vacated the building, which it had used as offices since 1950 after its near seven-decade life as luxury hotel accommodation came to an end.

Paul Butler Associates, which is acting as the agent for the apartments proposal, said that the Heaton Group would take ownership of the site should planning permission ultimately be granted for the suggested scheme. A request has been made to Preston City Council to determine whether the revised plan would require an environmental impact assessment to be undertaken before permission could be granted.

The new proposal - and the vandalism that has befallen the venue - have saddened one born-and-bred Prestonian with fond memories of the Park Hotel.

As a young trainspotter, David Bunting, 79, would set up camp on the covered glass bridge that used to connect two of the railway station’s platforms directly to the hotel car park.

“Given that the site is completely barriered off, with no visible security, it’s not surprising [that it has been targeted],” David said.

“It’s just a sad reflection on today's ‘society’, where destruction is the norm and not dealt with appropriately by the authorities. In fact, it’s a wonder that the hotel hasn’t been set fire to, given its remoteness from other buildings which are occupied.

“Anything less than the existing building being restored to its former glory will not satisfy me, but I am a realist, and given the fact that nothing has been done in the intervening 15 months [since LPP last issued an update] to suggest an action plan, [it seems that the proposed reopening] is not likely to happen.

“And whilst I’m not aware of any drawings to indicate how [the proposed] apartment blocks might look, you can bet your bottom dollar that given the amount of space available, they will obscure the hotel to such an extent as to make it virtually invisible, which, to me, would be anathema.”

Cllr Salim Desai, who represents the City Centre ward on Preston City Council, echoed concerns about the fire risk to the Park Hotel building, given a spate of arson attacks in Preston last year, one of which saw the former Odeon Cinema building razed to the ground. He said that all building owners had to “play their part by complying in securing their premises”.

A spokesperson for BNP Paribas Real Estate, which is managing the former hotel plot, told the Post: “We are aware of the issues at the Park Hotel site and are in discussions with the local police.

“There are a series of measures to ensure the building's safeguarding including the installation of CCTV cameras, steel shuttering, a dedicated alarm system, as well as the recent addition of a dog handler to walk the site at night."

A spokesman for the LPP added: “The pension fund has agreed a sale of the property to enable it to be brought back into use and we encourage the community to engage with the public consultation and share their views about the proposed development.

"In the meantime, we are aware of the security issues at the Park Hotel and are taking steps to counter these. Working closely with the managing agent, BNP Paribas, the developers, and the police, several measures to protect the site have been implemented, including CCTV cameras, steel shutters, an alarm system, and dog patrols.”