Keynsham fire station hotel development plan described as 'monstrous carbuncle'

People are not happy with plans to turn the former Keynsham fire station into a hotel, flats, shops and restaurant and a speech from Prince Charles was referenced in the criticism

Plans to turn a former fire station near Bristol into a hotel have been described as a ‘monstrous carbuncle’

Developers The Phoenix Group want to turn Keynsham’s old fire station into a 42-bed five-storey boutique hotel with nine two-bed flats, two shops, a 45 seater restaurant and offices on the site at Temple Street.

The single-storey Temple Street station closed in November 2015 as a result of its amalgamation with Brislington Fire Station into a new state of the art combined station at Hicks Gate.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service sold the building to Chewton Place Developments in 2017 for £750,000, more than twice the asking price.

However, the plans have sparked criticism from the local community who have raised concerns about the height of the building, traffic and inadequate parking, reports Somerset Live.

Resident Ann Smith commented on the application online, claiming the development reminded her of Prince Charles' 'monstrous carbuncle' (a painful cluster of boils) speech in 1984, when he was against having a building built in London.

She wrote: "I wholeheartedly object to having a 'boutique hotel' on the site of the former fire station in Temple Street.

"Anyone who lives, works or uses the facilities in the centre of Keynsham knows that the traffic situation is exasperating and the parking is completely overstretched.

"Imagining a five-storey hotel so close to the new Riverside apartments and the Bath and North East Somerset Council offices can only be described as in Prince Charles' 'monstrous carbuncle' speech some 30 years ago.

"I feel sorry for the people who have signed up for the new Riverside apartments who now find that they would have no view at all and just gaze out of their windows at a concrete wall.

"However this hotel is 'dressed up' to help our town with extra business, let's help the people who are already trying to run a business in the High Street and Temple Street and provide some extra parking and free-flowing traffic.

"As they frequently say in the media, if we don't use our High Street, we will lose it."

Other objectors said the plans were overdevelopment of the site and said Keynsham did not need another hotel.

Keynsham Councillor, Andy Halliday, said the concept was 'alien' to the area.

"I object to the application as inadequate parking for potential visitors is already a serious issue, the concept is alien to the area where other hotels are struggling," he wrote.

"There is a greater need for more of the proposed apartments than the bedrooms of the proposed hotel."

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