Stroud's Imperial Hotel beside Stroud station

Helena and J. were returning from their three night break in south Devon this afternoon. I promised to pick them up from the train station, which is actually close to the heart of the town centre. 

I was a few minutes early and I took the opportunity to record the sad sight of the Imperial Hotel which was built on the square opposite the main entrance to the train station. Last year I was involved in making a short film to highlight the inadequacies of access for all at the and around the station. I arranged with the owner of this hotel, 'Lucky', a Sri Lankan businessman, to use his fire escape at the far end of the building to get a high point to film an overview of the station area. 

He was very supportive of all local community issues in the town and regularly allowed the free use of his meeting rooms for both formal meetings and leisure pursuits such as poetry readings, and musical events. When 'lockdown' was announced in the spring the hotel suddenly closed. He probably had foreseen the economic problems which would be caused and got out while he could. It is very bad news for the town as it was a key factor for tourism, and there are no other hotels close to the town centre. Seeing it all boarded up is very dispiriting as it will be very hard to make such a business pay in the current economic climate. 

As soon as I'd taken this picture, Helena's train arrived just the other side of the wall from where I was standing. I had taken other pictures when there were no people in shot, but now I'm glad I took this one to add the human touch to the foreground.