Our award-winning hotel could become a house after planning green light

A Fylde coast hotel which has been rated as one of the best in the UK on several occasions could be transformed into a private house.

Planners at Blackpool Council have granted approval to proposals to down-size the building and change its use, should the eventual new owners prefer it.
This year the 10-bedroom Fossil Tree Hotel on Queen’s Promenade Hotel was named in theTravellers’ Choice list for the fourth successive time in five years and has been ranked 11th for best Small and Boutique Hotels in the UK.
It was also awarded Best Sea View Hotel and Guest House for the 4th successive year at the 2024 Travel and Hospitality Awards.
Reviewers praised its welcoming atmosphere and warm service and owner Chris Rinder, who ran the hotel with wife Christine, spoke of how proud they both were about the impressive accolades.
Last year the hotel went up for online auction with starting bids from £400,000, as Chris and Christine looked to retire from the industry.
But the couple who have run it so successfully for several years said they struggled to sell it as a hotel – so they decided to transform it to help sell it – and fetch a better price.
An application was submitted to Blackpool Council’s planners seeking permission for the erection of a single storey extension to the front elevation with a balcony above and use of premises as altered as a single private dwelling house – following demolition of front, side and rear extensions.
The application form, lodged on February 10, said the plans entail “conversion of the hotel to a single dwellinghouse.

GREEN LIGHT

Now the application has been approved by planners, giving the green light for the new plans.
The pair, who have spent three decades in the hotel trade, have made no secret of their plans to retire. Last year they put the hotel up for online auction with, starting bids from £400,000.
But they noticed that the former hotels in their row had become private houses, with one similar property to theirs fetching £600,000.
Chris explained: “ It doesn’t really make sense that a hotel, with its good name as a thriving business and all the high quality furnishings, should fetch around £200,000 more if it was a private house.
“It seems that buyers will pay more for a nice big house than they will if the same property is a hotel.
“So we’ve decided to apply to Blackpool planners for planning permission for it to become a house – as an option for a potential buyer.
“If that is what they want for the property, they would have that choice.”
The couple plan to continue operating as a hotel until a buyer comes in – and it will be their choice whether it’s a hotel or a house.
He said this week: “It will be sad if it is turned into a house but we have to be practical and give the buyer that choice,”
He said thy had the option to turn the hotel into a luxury 5 bed home with fantastic seaviews and a 2 bed granny annex, making it “ perfect for an extended family that wants the opportunity to live together in a stunning location, with seaviews from every room.”