After years of decay, doing up Aboyne’s Huntly Arms Hotel might feel like a task of biblical proportions.
So perhaps it’s appropriate that Aberdeenshire Council chiefs have issued its Middlesex-based owners with their own version of the Ten Commandments.
After being pressed by concerned locals, the authority has imposed an “amenity notice” due to the unkempt state of the closed hotel.
Council chiefs say the boarded up building, which last welcomed guests four years ago, “adversely affects” the Deeside community.
It means the owners have until late March to carry out a string of upgrades to bring it up to “acceptable condition”.
The repairs were due to get under way on Monday, but those plans were waylaid when contractors arrived to find the vacant venue being used as a cannabis farm.
Days later, mounds of bulky equipment were removed – with onlookers saying it looked like an “industrial” operation had been set up.
Four men have since appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court charged with a string of drugs offences.
But police have now left the site, the contractors have returned – and we can reveal the list of repairs demanded in full.
What have bosses been told to do?
- Replace the glass in the rooflight facing Station Brae, to make sure it’s watertight.
- Cut the overgrown grass to the east of the hotel, where a B-listed gazebo is located.
- Paint the boarded up windows and doors.
- Remove any electrical wiring.
- Remove the peeling sign for “The Tavern”, including the fixings. And then fill in the holes left behind.
- Take down the cigarette boxes at the door to the former bar.
- Entirely take down the timber trellis on the canopy at the front entrance.
- Remove weeds and garden waste at the front.
- Clear vegetation from the gutters and walls.
- Take down the electric fitting on the west of the building – meaning the sign for the beer garden, emblazoned with the famous red T of Tennents Lager.
Owner paying for Huntly Arms Hotel repairs after council threat
The letter sent by the council’s senior enforcement planner, Victoria Moore, warned owners of the consequences should the repairs not take place.
She said failure to comply will result in the “remedial action” being taken by the council.
Under government legislation, that means the body could then “recover any expenses incurred” from the owner.
Repairs come as hotel reaches crisis point
The Huntly Arms Hotel dates back to 1432 and generations of Aberdeenshire residents have fond memories of the landmark.
But it began going downhill in the last decade, before closing after a string of horror reviews and declining trade.
Locals have been growing increasingly concerned about the building, with the Huntly Arms Regeneration Project fighting to secure its future.
Arriving to find crime scene was a ‘kick in the teeth’
These works will decrease the chances of any further decay affecting the hotel in the meantime.
Robert Lamb, the local architect for the owners, described the recent setback as a “kick in the teeth”.
He added: “We just want to get going with the work. The building has sat empty for a long time and it needs to get going.
“There is no real plan for the building going forward yet, but the owner has a few options in mind.”
Read more about the campaigners’ efforts to save the Huntly Arms:
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