Alarm raised as council's partial 'deconstruction plans' could trigger total collapse of historic hotel

Add your voice to save John Lennon and Yoko Ono hotel. The deadline for comments is 20th June 2025.

A north-west Wales council has submitted controversial plans to tear down a substantial section of a landmark listed building in the Welsh seaside town of Tywyn.

The council, which does not own the building or the land, has applied to grant itself a demolition permit for the hotel made famous by John Lennon and Yoko Ono who stayed there. 

Gwynedd Council is being advised by a demolition contractor, Wye Valley Demolition, and the engineering report submitted with the application is not written by a conservation accredited engineer – standard practice when dealing with listed buildings. 

SAVE has responded with a detailed objection to the plans, highlighting serious concerns that the council’s approach to demolition could jeopardise the structural integrity of the whole building and trigger its collapse. 

SAVE appointed specialist conservation engineer, Jon Avent, director at Mann Williams, to review the scheme. He expressed strong concern over the methodology and justification for demolition.  

He says, “I remain concerned that the extent of proposed demolition will actually cause instability where it did not exist before.” See SAVE’s objection, and structural review by Jon Avent.

The plans propose to demolish ‘zones 1-5' of the building, which is the oldest and most significant part of the hotel. The remaining ‘zones 6-8' of the structure are not guaranteed to survive the demolition works. 

Welsh guidance on the historic environment makes it clear that the demolition of a listed building should be ‘exceptional’ and a ‘last resort’.  

With no evidence that options for stabilising, repairing and conserving the building have been considered, and without input from a conservation-accredited engineer, there is no justification that the council’s demolition plans are the last possible option. 

Instead, Jon Avent advocates that "some limited takedown of a localised area to the rear of the building" might be needed, but that this would "aid the long-term repair and retention of the building" rather than necessitate its wholesale demolition.  

Jon Avent says, "the current application is considered undefined and open-ended to the extent that it represents a request for consent for full demolition...it is not an approach that could be considered a ‘last resort’."

Background 

SAVE responded swiftly  in April to a threat that Gwynedd Council was seeking to demolish the Corbett Arms Hotel under dangerous building powers due to concerns that two areas at the back of the 1833 building had collapsed after years of neglect.   

We sent a specialist conservation engineer, Jon Avent, director at Mann Williams civil and structural engineers, to carry out an urgent review of its condition. He concluded: “There is simply no justification for demolition.” 

We also rallied supporters to write to the chief executive of Gwynedd Council. In response, the council confirmed demolition would not go ahead in early May. 

We received confirmation that the Welsh government’s official heritage advisor had taken action to lift the threat of imminent demolition and that a listed building consent (LBC) application would be submitted by the council prior to any work being undertaken. 

The council do not own the Corbett Arms Hotel; it is owned by a third party. While it has fallen into disrepair in recent years, a buyer is reportedly interested in reviving it. The local chamber of tourism and commerce says this could create dozens of jobs – which would be a huge boost for this small town.  

Read our previous news story here.