With HS2 getting the government go-ahead last month – and
Chesterfield Borough Council working on its HS2 Chesterfield
Station Masterplan and pledging that the area is one of its ‘longterm regeneration priorities’ – there now seems to be a future for the Chesterfield Hotel site, with the council already approving plans to demolish the iconic building and giving outline approval for the development of offices on the site. Now Godfrey Holmes, in his second article on the town’s former Station Hotel, tells how it has been riches-to-rags for the hotel over the last 13 years.
LAST MONTH, I was privileged to tell the story of the rise and rise of the prestigious Station Hotel, re-named the Chesterfield. This month, however, the tale turns rather sour. The writing was – probably literally – on the wall when, in 2007, Chesterfield Borough Council visited the hotel’s kitchen, then the responsibility of Legacy, and judged hygiene practices “bad” – and certainly in need of improvement. Environmental Services, while expressing some displeasure, also had “confidence” that management could resolve the issues raised…