An Aberdeen hotelier has revealed his back-up plan if the business does not recover from the hit caused by coronavirus.
Mike Edwards, who owns The Mariner Hotel on Great Western Road, hopes customers will return to stay, or enjoy meals at the popular Atlantis restaurant.
But if his business cannot recover, he has now applied for permission to change the hotel into 10 flats, with a further four homes built in the car park.
Last night, Mr Edwards stressed that it was not an immediate plan – rather an option for the future.
He had originally looked at other options for the site last year, when Aberdeen City Council mooted plans to make Salisbury Terrace and Gray Street one-way.
Mr Edwards said: “This is a process we initiated last year after the future of the hotel was threatened by proposed traffic management measures in our area.
“It was felt having a secondary use for the site would safeguard our decades of investment were these measures re-proposed, passed and the viability of the hotel impacted.”
In the supporting documents for the change of use application, agents Halliday Fraser Munro raised concerns about the hotel being “viable” in the future.
The firm state: “The current hotel business has been detrimentally impacted by Covid-19 situation and is no longer sustainable.”
In May, the DoubleTree by Hilton, at the Beach, ceased trading due to the pandemic.
