News Archive
15 Years on, We Remember What Was the Only 4* Hotel in Scarborough the Holbeck Hall Hotel
03rd Jun 2008
An article in the Scarborough Evening News looks back 15 on the Holbeck Hall Hotel landslip.
The current events at Knipe Point will bring back memories of the Holbeck Hall Hotel disaster, for the owners of English Rose Hotels which owned the Scarborough hotel Almost 15 years ago. The historic hotel crashed down to the sea after a destructive landslide.
The drama began on the morning of Friday, June 4, 1993, when 80 staff and guests had to be evacuated from the 4* star hotel which was left teetering on the edge of the cliff after a massive landslip.
The following night, onlookers watched in astonishment as half of the Holbeck Hall Hotel collapsed. The fall of the English Rose Hotel provided an irresistible attraction for residents and visitors as they scrambled to get the best vantage points and the disaster attracted national media attention.
The hotel’s substantial gardens were the first to fall away and through the Friday night and Saturday, the building creaked and groaned under the strain. In the seaward wing, the walls buckled and windows smashed while curtains flapped in the breeze.
In fits and spurts, the innards of the Yorkshire hotel started to fall apart and the internal walls came thundering down. Finally, there was an almighty crash and the centre section of the seaward wing collapsed taking six of its eight bedrooms with it.
Minutes later, one wall and the corner of the Rose Lounge fell away. No sooner had the dust settled, than the gable above the main door crashed to the ground. Members of the Turner family, which owned the luxury hotel, had mounted a vigil for hours on end surrounded by a media circus.
From Sea Cliff Road, all that could be seen of the hotel on the Saturday night were the two remaining gables which faced onto the street and the corner of the Rose Lounge perched on the cliff edge.
Will the unthinkable happen again for Knipe Point!
Watch BBC Look North Footage By Clicking this Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7438211.stm
