Rushen Heritage Trust has backed plans to knock down a former hotel in Port St Mary.

The demolition of the Bay Queen hotel is set to begin later this month.

The hotel was built in the 1920s and is an iconic feature in the village.

It was once known as the Ballaqueeney, rather than the Bay Queen.

The remains of the deteriorating building were purchased - along with the surrounding land - for £4 million by Hartford Homes in 2007 after falling into a state of disrepair.

Plans were approved in 2018 to redevelop the Bay Queen into two blocks of apartments, but they were revised in April this year and it will now house 23 apartments, a spa, cafe and gym.

Restrictions to the footpath and parking surrounding the hotel will be in place from September 20 through to March next year as they begin the demolition work.

Hugh Davidson spoke to local democracy reporter Chris Cave on behalf of the trust, and explained that they were supportive of the proposals, saying ’the approach is correct and I and my colleagues strongly support it.’

He said: ’That particular site has been empty of activity since the early to mid 1980s, [it’s had] 35 years plus in tough weather in the winter, and there’s nothing we like less than rotting and deteriorating buildings particularly on flagship sites like that.

’You can look for the perfect planning permission or heritage proposition and fail to achieve it [and be left with] an empty building, or a rotting site for the next few decades, and I’m afraid we’ve got a number of those, like the empty Ocean Castle hotel site on Port Erin promenade.’

Mr Davidson has a personal collection to the building, as his father Alec Davidson worked on the building in 1935 on the art deco section of the hotel which is still standing with the twin towers.

When asked about the many people who may disagree with the approach of demolishing the historic building, and would rather see it preserved, maintained and saved from demolition, he reiterated the trust’s position.

He said: ’Fine, well who’s going to do it and fund it?

’If they are going to do that, they should come forward.

’But we need practical solutions not theoretical ones.

’We’re happy with the Ballaqueeney [plans] - we’re not happy with many of the new buildings - but we’re happy with this particular one.

’If you go for the perfect [solution], you end up with an empty site.’