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Hotel Monument project delayed

Plans to construct a hotel at the top of Grey’s Monument have been delayed. News broke in May that as part of the East ’08 celebrations, people would be able to spend the night with the UK’s 22nd Prime Minister on top of his historic tower.

The idea is said to have met with overwhelming support, both from members of the public and from commercial businesses. However, understandably, there are certain challenges in allowing Geordies to kip with the man whose face appears on boxes of teabags up and down the country, and the NewcastleGateshead Initiative have announced that it is no longer feasible to launch Hotel Monument for the month of August.

Tony Durcan, Newcastle City Council’s head of culture, said: “With a ground-breaking scheme, 40 metres in the air, around a precious monument, in a crowded pedestrian area, we are very keen that time is taken to get this right.”

The hotel is the responsibility of NewcastleGateshead’s culture10 programme. Stella Hall, its creative director, remained positive about the hotel: “We’re proud of our record of creating and supporting world-class events which put an international spotlight on our region and maintain our reputation for delivering cutting-edge public art projects.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .