Gas loss leads hotel to close

Press, 26 September 1980, Page 4

Gas loss leads hotel to close

The Ambassador Private Hotel in Manchester Street, near the- railway station, closes ’ today " because the owners, Mrs Yvonne and Mr Alex Taylor, say they cannot afford "to convert the 52-year-old hotel from gas to electricity-. • -> ; ' Mr Taylor said yesterday that the cost of conversion would be between $lO,OOO and $20,000. The stoves alone would cost $5OOO. Everything in the hotel, which sleeps about 60 people, runs on gas, except for the lights and a few points in the bedrooms to plug electric blankets into. Mr Taylor said that some parts of the gas system had been cut off already.

“The Christchurch Gas Company is trying to choke everyone out gradually,” he said. “It is not wanting to make any repairs and it costs an enormous amount to get gas appliances fixed by private companies. Once we have a major breakdown, we will be shot.”

Mr Taylor said that the

g a s-electricity problem would . create much unemployment -because places would have to i close too.

Fortunately the hotel would have no redundancy problems because thewwas;. only one full-time worker. The rest were part-timers. > The hotel was built by the Sleeman family in 1928. Although it is no longer in the splendour of its heyday, much of the woodwork inside is still exposed and polished. Many of the windows are leadlight. The front of the hotel has a small flower garden and a lawn. The property is on the market for $150,000; including the business. The 1979 Government valuation brought the previous^valuation downrfrom $150,000 to $llO,OOO for the alone. - , If the hotel is not sold, the Taylors will move into the back and carry on their trading business next door. The front part of the hotel will then be leased.