THE OWNERS of the Kings Arms hotel in Kingsbridge met with local councillors and members of Kingsbridge and Salcombe Chamber of Commerce to discuss the building’s future last week.

Representatives of the Reuben brothers, who own the hotel, travelled to Kingsbridge to meet with town mayor Cllr Wayne Grills, district and county councillor Rufus Gilbert and representatives of Kingsbridge and Salcombe Chamber of Commerce.

Cllr Grills described the meeting as ‘very positive’, with Motcomb agreeing to fix the guttering that has been leaking, and continue with further discussions - although no further meetings are planned.

Raymond Hayes from KSCC said: ‘The unanimous position taken by the chamber was to recognise the economic reality that the Kings Arms was not viable as a traditional town centre hotel in view of the huge cost of repair and the nature of the building. The chamber therefore supported the proposition that the developer should be allowed to redevelop the upper floors for residential purposes provided licensed premises were maintained on the ground floor. These ideas coincided with those of the Wellington Pub company and the chamber was keen to see early progress in terms of realising this.’

District and county councillor Rufus Gilbert said: ‘The meeting went very well. All that were present at the meeting agreed that the meeting went well. It was full and frank discussion between Motcomb and representatives of the town.

‘At the end, it was generally agreed that the option to do nothing was untenable.

‘Any outcome will be an improvement for the community.’

In a further indication of the building’s further decay, the sign was blown to the ground in high winds last week, and now lies broken in the car park behind the building.

In addition, a new campaign group has been formed with the aim of returning the Kings Arms to the centre of life in the town.

‘Save the Kings Arms’ was established following a public meeting last month, and more than 600 people have signed a petition calling for action to be taken by the owners of the hotel.

SATKA have released a statement, deploring the fact that the historic coaching inn has been allowed to fall into such poor condition, and calls for a public consultation and professional advice to examine the feasibility of transforming the Kings Arms into a multi-purpose building.

The aim is to ‘keep a pub/restaurant in the upper part of town, provide community facilities - a function room and meeting space, retain some hotel accommodation in the town, create long-term local employment and preserve as much of the historical character of the building as possible.’

SATKA also opposes the proposal for predominantly residential development of the site.