Demolition is taking place of a resort’s oldest hotel to make way for a multi-million pound modern replacement.

Ipswich Star: As it was . . . the Ordnance Hotel, Felixstowe.As it was . . . the Ordnance Hotel, Felixstowe. (Image: Archant)

The Ordnance Hotel has stood at the bottom of Garrison Lane, Felixstowe, for around 150 years and was a popular drinking place with the navvies who built the town’s port.

They would leave their work on pay day to row up a navigable creek – the remains of which border nearby Langer Park – to reach it and spend their hard-earned cash.

Now though the Victorian building is all but gone, gradually demolished over the past fortnight to make way for a 60-bedroom Premier Inn and 57-space car park. The development will create 25 new jobs.

The company is aiming to start work on site as soon as possible and hopes to have the hotel open in summer next year.

It said the Ordnance was in a “sad state of decline” and “no longer viable for conversion or extension to secure its future”.

It believes a Premier Inn could attract 20,000 guests a year, and put at least 7,000 new customers into other pubs and restaurants in the area as the three-storey hotel would feature a limited fare restaurant, helping to encourage people to use other facilities locally.

The company said: “Premier Inn has been searching for a site in Felixstowe for some years and had unsuccessfully sought to pursue various other options until the current site became available.

“Felixstowe therefore represents a significant gap in the Premier Estate as the town is a very major port, a centre for business in the area and a holiday resort.”

A new modern hotel has been a long identified need for the town – a £28m scheme for a conference hotel plus shops was suggested for the Convalescent Hill site but failed to materialise, and a hotel was also part of the initial Walton Green plans.