The demolition of the former Imperial Hotel on Douglas seafront is proving to be crowd puller.

While the sun beat down on the promenades, spectators and even Douglas Council workers stopped to witness some of the final moments of the landmark.

A previous application for the building to be demolished was submitted in 2013, although that was later withdrawn despite a structural assessment of the building.

That assessment, carried out in January 2013, concluded that the former hotel was ‘in a dangerous condition and should be demolished without delay’.

Since the hotel closed, it had been used to train police sniffer dogs.

Historian Peter Kelly told the Isle of Man Newspaper some highlights of the history of the hotel.

’The Imperial was built in 1891 from ruabon brick brought from Wales and was originally two hotels in the one building,’ he said.

’The hotel had its heyday arguably in the 1930s when it was run by the Kiddie family, who had a shop fitting business in Blackpool, they gave the hotel an internal makeover, made it into one hotel and brought it in line with the height of 1930s taste.

’In the 1960s it was owned by Mrs Stringer who also had a ladies’ hairdressers and a farm just outside of Douglas which supplied the hotel with all of its milk, her husband I believe also ran a tobacco wholesaler.’