Prominent Grade II-listed landmark deteriorating while awaiting hotel conversion
Grade II-listed, 1871, Hill and Swan
Built in the early 1870s, the Wesley Chapel presents an elegant classical stone portico onto a busy road junction in central Hartlepool. It remains an impressive building, despite its many broken windows and the forecourt being turned to use as a car park. The owner, Jomast Developments Ltd, was granted permission to convert the former Chapel, previously used as a nightclub, into a 49 bed hotel in 2009 but no work was carried out. A new permission was granted in 2013 but despite pressure from the council, only minimal remedial work to discharge consent conditions seems to have been carried out. Currently the site appears to be entirely inactive, and if a substantive start is not made on the consented works by November 2015, another consent will lapse. Jomast should fulfil its stated intention of investing in this Hartlepool landmark rather than leaving it to decay further.
Status Update / March 2026
The building was subject to an arson attack in 2017, which increased the conservation deficit associated with its redevelopment. To ensure the project went ahead as planned, the local Town Deal agreed to fund the deficit, while the private developer took on the costs associated with converting the building to a 32-key hotel. Historic England were consulted about the project and agreed that it would warrant removing the building from its at-risk register. The restoration of the building continues to progress, with the initial phase of internal demolition and installation of steel roof trusses now completed.