Farewell to Fox Hotel as eyesore goes
Being chipped away piece by piece – these pictures show how one of Wolverhampton's most notorious eyesores will soon be no more.
A landmark for all the wrong reasons, the Fox Hotel will soon disappear from the city's skyline after bulldozers started the long-awaited demolition today. Workers have spent the last few weeks dismantling the interior.
Asbestos has also been removed from the building. But work to completely knock down the former hotel on the city's ring road started today.
When the project is finished, the site will be turned into a 40-space temporary car park. The demolition is costing around £400,000. A R Demolition has seven workers on site who have been there for the past four weeks.
Site manager Iain Bateman said: "We have a 36-ton high reach Volvo that has started demolishing the building. We are hoping the concrete planks will come away whole. If they come off in bits and pieces it will slow us down.
"We have been here for four weeks and so far everything has gone to plan."
The Fox was acquired by Wolverhampton City Council last year with the aim of knocking it down and marketing the land.
The decision of the council to buy the hotel was taken after talks to replace it with a £15m, 133-bedroom, seven-storey Hampton by Hilton hotel stalled.
