THE HISTORIC Deganwy Castle Hotel is to be sold, the Pioneer can confirm.
The hotel, which lies in the heart of the village, closed its doors in January leaving residents concerned for the future of the site.
Negotiations were believed to be taking place between owners Enterprise Inns and another hotel chain to develop the site, but a spokeswoman from the company told the Pioneer the hotel would be up for sale soon.
She said: “It will be going on the open market for sale with Savills of Manchester, probably within the next week.”
The news comes after a Facebook group to save the site has seen a surge in support.
Titled ‘Petition to re-open the Deganwy Castle Hotel’, the group on the popular social networking website was started a month ago by Peter Gardener, 21, who is currently a third year student in Cardiff University.
He said: “My parents live in the area and I thought that it was so depressing to see the Deganwy Castle Hotel closed up and empty, so I decided to start the group.
“I only live a minute walk from it and I've walked past it every day. I knew people who worked there who were very sad to see it shut. It's played a big part in local residents’ life.”
Mr Gardener was pleased with the reaction of the group, which has already attracted 310 members and has featured comments from holidaymakers and local residents who describe the hotel as “the heartbeat to the lovely village”.
He said: “In many respects I’m not that surprised. I knew when it first shut there were a lot of people who were sad to see it go.
“The target is 500 members – that represents about 1 in 10 of the population of Deganwy. It’s a good target to show the support and hopefully it will snowball even further.”
Cllr Jason Weyman was thrilled with the response of the Facebook campaign, and hoped any future developers would take notice of the level of support for the landmark site.
He said: “That's the strength of this type of media - the social networking sites. Through friends of friends it expands through the country. It’s good to see these comments coming through.
“It shows the interest in the site and any potential developer in the site will be able to see that interest. It shows the social element of the site, and that's what we want. Even is someone builds apartments there, a social element is needed.”
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Tell us what you think about the sale of the Deganwy Castle Hotel by commenting below, and join the Facebook group by following this link.