Wolverhampton's Fox Hotel reduced to pile of rubble

These pictures show how the eyesore former Fox Hotel that has blighted a main gateway into Wolverhampton city centre for years has all but disappeared from the landscape.

Workers have spent the past few weeks ripping out the interior and removing asbestos from the building, which has blighted the Penn Road island for years.

They finally started the final phase of dismantling the shell of the old building last week – and today, it was reduced to little more than rubble.

The demolition, which has so far taken around six weeks, has cost the city council £400,000.

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.

But earlier this month it emerged the council was in advanced talks with a "prestigious" potential buyer and is close to signing a deal to build a new hotel on the site. In the meantime, it will be used as a temporary 40-space car park.

Council leader Roger Lawrence said: "I am very pleased it is disappearing. It was not a very nice looking building.

"As it is on a major gateway into the city we want a decent development there in the future."