Fans fear for future as housing plan for 'Hearts hotel' lodged

Festival Inns has lodged plans to convert the Orwell Lodge hotel on Polwarth Terrace into a block of 11 flats.

The plans have been welcomed in the community but led to fears that the Orwell Hearts Supporters Club, which has around 60 members, will be forced to shut down.

The three-star ten-bed hotel was used as the headquarters for the Save Our Hearts campaign – a pressure group formed in 2004 to help keep the club at Tynecastle.

Under the plans, the current hotel and bar would be converted into three new apartments while a function suite would be demolished and replaced with a new three-storey extension.

Developers behind the move plan to create 11 new three-bedroom flats on the site, which property experts estimate would be sold for around 250,000 each.

It is the second time the hotel has been earmarked for flats, following a failed bid in 2002 to restore the main building and build 19 new flats on the site.

At the time, local residents complained the proposed development would be too high and out of character with the area.

However, the latest move has been welcomed by community leaders, who said they would be happy to see the hotel and bar replaced with a small number of high quality homes.

Bridget Stevens, chairwoman of Merchiston Community Council, said: "We are not opposed to the idea of converting the hotel into flats. During the last attempt to build on the site, we were concerned about the impact it would have on the area, but these new plans sound much better.

"As long as it does not look out of place and will not lead to a huge block of flats being created here, then we would welcome it."

But John Hunter, chairman of the Orwell Hearts supporters' club, said he feared it would mean the end of the group.

"They have lodged plans before and been knocked back, so I would hope this doesn't go ahead, but if it does it will be very difficult for us," he said.

"We have been here for 16 years now, so obviously it would be upsetting. On top of that is the fact that there are not many places left to go around here, as everything is getting closed down or turned into houses, so we could just be forced to scrap the group.

"It's a shame as this is a really popular place for Hearts fans – you can't move in here on match days, and there's a great atmosphere to the place."

It is understood that the Orwell is currently managed by Tracey Robertson, the ex-wife of Hearts legend John Robertson.

No-one from Festival Inns, was available to comment on the plans when contacted by the Evening News. The proposals are expected to be discussed by councillors in the coming months.

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