Barnstaple Hotel announces reopening plans after storm damage

The Barnstaple Hotel has provided an update on its reopening plans following extensive roof damage caused by Storm Darragh. 

On Saturday, 7 December, Storm Darragh hit the UK, bringing strong winds to North Devon. The hotel confirmed to the Gazette that a large area of the roof covering the accommodation building had been badly damaged by the extreme weather, forcing the hotel to close temporarily to ensure the safety of guests and staff.

In a statement, the hotel said: “Unfortunately a large area of roof covering our accommodation building has been badly damaged by the extreme weather conditions, which has caused us to close the hotel so we can ensure our guests and staff remain safe.”

However, teams have been working ‘tirelessly’ to ensure a partial reopening in time for the festive season, honouring many pre-existing bookings.

From tomorrow, Tuesday, 10 December, the restaurants, bars, and function rooms will reopen between 10am and 4pm, while the gym, sauna, and changing rooms will be available from 10am to 8pm.

By Wednesday, 11 December, the hotel aims to reopen its health club fully, including the indoor swimming pool, pending safety sign-off.

From Friday, 13 December, all areas, including Christmas party nights, festive lunches, and dinners, are expected to be operational.

Matthew Brend, Director of the Brend Group, which owns the hotel, said: “We are still awaiting some updates before we know when we will be able to reopen our bedrooms, but hope to be able to get them open quite soon. The most important thing for us was to try and honour as many of the pre-existing festive bookings we had, a number of which are annual events which we wouldn’t want to spoil, so we’re very pleased that thanks to the hard work of our team and many local contractors, we’re in a position to hopefully be able to reopen in some way from tomorrow, all being well.”

The hotel assured guests that safety remains a top priority, with teams closely monitoring each stage of the reopening process.

For any enquiries about future bookings, guests are encouraged to contact the hotel directly on 01271 376221.