Empty for 20 years and now partly-demolished, could the saga of the Grosvenor Hotel finally be coming to an end?
The site of the Grosvenor Hotel, near Temple Meads station in Bristol, as it is marketed by Kent-based property agents SJD, in May 2025(Image: SJD)
One of Bristol’s most notorious and prominent eyesore sites is up for sale – and is being marketed as a place to build a tower block of student flats.
The Grosvenor Hotel site, opposite Temple Meads station, is currently being marketed with an ‘offers in excess of’ asking price of £12 million.
The front half of the hotel was demolished in the first few months of 2024, but the 1930s rear extension has been left standing and is currently acting as large billboard site facing Temple Way.
For more than ten years there has been impasse between the Grosvenor Hotel site’s owner, Nimish Popat, and Bristol City Council, with council chiefs repeatedly pledging to secure a Compulsory Purchase Order, which has not yet happened, and Mr Popat in turn being brought to the courts to secure the structure of the building, particularly after the large fire of October 2023, which left the building unstable.
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But now, buyers are being sought for the site, with claims of new plans to demolish the rest of the hotel building and construct large buildings in its place.
The site is currently being marketed to potential buyers by Kent-based property marketing firm SJD.
The sales pitch from SJD described the Grosvenor Hotel as: “A site which had a positive pre-application for a 17-storey building, primarily to be used as student accommodation.
Grosvenor Hotel has stood half-demolished since February 2024(Image: Bristol Live)
“Alternative plans have also been drafted for a twelve-storey hotel, with commercial units on the basement and ground floor levels, as well as a rooftop restaurant.
“The building was previously used as a hotel and then a residential unit, and has since been part demolished due to a fire in 2024,” it added.
Accompanying the listing on SJD’s website is a CGI image that shows a large circular building behind original Grosevenor Hotel frontage, which was demolished in the first months of 2024.
SJD’s founder Stephen Donnelly told Bristol Live that they act for potential buyers, rather than the owner of the building.
“The vendor has asked us to try to find a buyer,” he said. “This is a site where almost anything will be welcome as it has been left for so long. We’ve got a few interested parties, so we will see if a deal can be done,” he added.
The site of the Grosvenor Hotel, near Temple Meads station in Bristol, as it is marketed by Kent-based property agents SJD, in May 2025(Image: SJD)
At a key location at the gateway to Bristol from Temple Meads, the site forms part of the Temple Quarter regeneration area, but – alongside the shell of the former George and Railway hotel next door on the corner of Temple Way and Redcliffe Way.
Mr Popat has steadfastly refused to sell the site, and has rejected Bristol City Council’s offers to buy it. His refusal is understood to be linked to the decision to not build the arena on the other side of Temple Meads – he originally bought the Grosvenor with plans to restore it as a historic building and reopen it as a hotel for people attending events there.
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