PREPARATION work is under way for the demolition of some of the buildings on Droitwich’s historic Raven Hotel site.
The Standard was contacted by people who saw work being undertaken there and wanting to know what was happening.
As part of the development, modern extensions would be demolished back to the listed building, leaving the 15th to 18th Centrury core plus the ’19th Century bookends’ either side.
Tree-ringing carried out in 2022 dated parts of the building back to the 1400s.
Developer Inroka told us the knocking down of the newer parts would begin in the first quarter of this year.
And it stressed that security measures had been stepped up to prevent people vandalising or trespassing in the historic listed building section which is set to be restored to its former glory.
Rajinder Singh, from Inroka, said: “We have had a lot of vandalism at the site with windows being smashed and this has caused us issues as we have had a lot of bad weather and it exposes the building to elements.
“To prevent this heritage part being jeopardised, the building has been boarded up all the way round to prevent further damage.”
Increased security measures
CCTV cameras have been installed in a bid to catch those responsible, signs have been put up warning of the dangers of trespassing – as parts of the building are unstable – and Mr Singh is considering removing conifers to make the area more visible to reduce illegal incursions.
He also warned anyone caught vandalising or trespassing would face prosecution.
“We are very passionate – both about the project overall and restoring this much-loved piece of Droitwich history.
“We are doing all we can to protect it – I want to plea to people not to trespass as it is very dangerous and those doing so could risk serious injury.
“This is not a short-term plan. We want to safeguard the future of the Raven Hotel building so it is there for the next 500 years.”
The plans for the Raven Hotel site
The plans for the Raven Hotel include 48 houses and flats – nine of them facing onto St Andrew’s Street, another apartment block.
The ground floor could also house a gin bar and, potentially, the returned brine baths.
Mr Singh praised Wychavon District Council for its support and urged anyone who sees acts of vandalism or trespass to report them to the police straight away.
