Joyce Thomas and Marie Ward were out and about in Ross-on-Wye on Thursday, February 28th, gathering support for Councillor Harry Bramer’s campaign to protect The Chase Hotel from redevelopment. In an hour, they received 149 signatures.

Councillor Harry Bramer told the Ross Gazette: “I am at a loss to understand the proposed closure of the Chase Hotel for the reasons stated by the directors of Camanoe Estates Limited, namely, the change in customer preferences and the high cost of running the business.”

The Chase Hotel accounts filed are non audited and are abbreviated; a balance sheet shows that the company was incorporated in 1962. Councillor Bramer said that the last accounts filed were to March 31st, 2018 and a loss was made of £60,000 after depreciation of £51,000. Thus, the loss prior to depreciation was £9000. Its net assets were £3.4m, consisting of freehold property of £1.4m, and investment property of £470,000 and a loan to a connected company (Alan Porter Ltd) of £1.4m.

Councillor Bramer said: “In summary, the company, with a loss of just £9000, is perfectly viable and the company is certainly asset rich. Having looked at this publicly available information I can see no justification for closing the hotel.”

Councillor Bramer set up an online petition on Monday, March 11th to continue the effort to save The Chase Hotel from redevelopment. It can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/camanoe-estates-limited-save-the-chase-hotel-ross-on-wye-6e5de45a-d185-40fa-ab9e-dd3417822f93?recruiter=941304088&utm_source=share_petition&utm_meSee this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.