Norwich folk have their say on Nelson hotel rebuild plans

The proposal from Premier Inn's owner Whitbread is to demolish the Prince of Wales Road hotel, which opened in 1971, to rebuild it alongside new homes, student accommodation, offices, retail units and a public plaza.

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Halkawat Alipoor, who owns Barber King opposite the site, said: “It will be good for Norwich as Norwich is a quiet city now, so something like this will bring more people from outside into the city.”

The site of The Nelson hotel complex as it looks in Prince of Wales Road today (Image: Sonya Duncan/Newsquest)The proposal for the rebuild of The Nelson hotel site in Norwich (Image: Sheppard Robson)

Andrew Cox, 27, is the manager of the Onestop shop next to the hotel. He said: “It’s a great idea, purely because I think it will bring more footfall up and down here from the city centre.

"It can be quite dirty around here, so it would be nice to see that change.”

Andrew Cox, manager of the Onestop shop in Prince of Wales Road (Image: Newsquest)

Carole Williams, 78, from Eaton, said: “Anything would be an improvement because it’s not very pretty at the moment.

"It’s a shame because this road was built as a stylish, precession way for people arriving at the newly constructed Norwich Station all those years ago.”

Carole Williams has had her say on the rebuild of The Nelson hotel (Image: Newsquest)

However, Lesley Hall, 64, who was born and raised in the city but now lives in Essex, said: “I’m not sure about that at all. I do think something needs to be done but I’m not sure how that’s going to appeal to anyone coming off the train, coming out of a building that is that old to something that is that brand new.

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“Do we need more flats? The city is full of flats. We need accommodation for families, not students.”

Lesley Hall, who was brought up in Heartsease (Image: Newsquest)

But Peter Rieder, 86, of Newmarket Road, said: "I'd be quite happy about that – the more development for Norwich the better.

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"I’m looking to downsize, so I might even move there!”

Peter Rieder has welcomed plans for the rebuild of The Nelson hotel site in Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

Home of a star

Next to the boarded-up former home of the Costa coffee shop at The Nelson hotel is a blue plaque marking the site as the former home of a world-renowned dancer. 

Vernon Castle was born in Norwich in 1887 and was raised at the Great Eastern Hotel, which was demolished in 1963. 

The Great Eastern Hotel in Norwich was closed in 1961 and demolished two years later (Image: Newsquest)

Having flown some 150 missions for the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, Castle died aged 30 in the USA in 1918, in a training flight crash in Texas. 

Dignitaries from America and Britain attended his funeral service in Manhattan, having found stardom as a dancing star alongside his wife Irene. 

Vernon and Irene Castle were dance stars before the First World War (Image: Philip Yaxley Collection)

After marrying in 2011, they performed a new dance while touring in Paris: The Grizzly Bear. 

Fame followed their return to the USA and in April 1914 they embarked in their own specially chartered train on “The Whirlwind Tour” taking in more than 30 big cities in a month with a final spectacular at Madison Square Garden in New York. 

The plaque was unveiled in 2019 by Dame Darcey Bussell.