A government department has had to apologise after mistakenly announcing the demolition of the wrong Douglas hotel.

A public notice by the Department of Infrastructure, was intended to inform the public of the removal of traffic lights in preparation for the forthcoming demolition of the Imperial Hotel.

But it instead announced the Empress Hotel was about to be demolished.

The posting on the DoI official Facebook page said that traffic lights had been ’temporarily removed for a few months whilst the Empress Hotel demolition works are being carried out by Island Drainage & Groundworks.’

The department realised its mistake when it was pointed out by residents. It was corrected two hours later with the message ’Apologies all, we do mean the Imperial Hotel!’

It explained that the pedestrian crossing on Central Promenade by the Imperial Hotel had been temporarily removed ’for a few months whilst the hotel demolition works are being carried out’.