NOOKS and CORNERS
AFTER masonry started falling off the once handsome Antrim Arms hotel in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland last October, Causeway Coast and Glens borough council ordered the owner to do something with the site: secure, repair or demolish it.
However, a judge at Coleraine court blocked the council’s order earlier this month, ruling that the owner could not partially demolish the listed building as he did not have permission from Northern Ireland’s Historic Environment Division (HED). It was decided that if owner Declan Joseph Wright of Maplemanor Properties followed the council’s wishes, he would be at risk of prosecution for altering a listed building.
Dating from 1760, it has had a precarious existence in the seaside town. The three-storey building has gradually become dilapidated, causing concern last year when masonry fell off, whereupon the surrounding area was cordoned off by police.