Video: Iconic hotel destroyed in fire

AN INVESTIGATION was under way today after a huge fire destroyed a Stonehaven hotel.

Forty firefighters battled in vain to save the vacant St Leonard’s Hotel in Stonehaven.

Grampian Fire and Rescue Service group manager Mike Dickson said six crews fought the fire at the Stonehaven hotel which had been boarded up to prevent vandalism.

The Grampian Fire and Rescue Service group manager said: “Crews were on scene through the night, damping down and knocking down potential heat spots. The last crew came away at about 3.40am.

“The investigation today will focus on ruling in or out potential causes but it’s too early at this stage to say how the fire started.”

The blaze broke out at Stonehaven’s St Leonard’s Hotel about 6pm yesterday and quickly tore through the three-storey Aberdeenshire building.

Grampian Police were on the scene to warn neighbours of the fire, while gas and electricity supplies were cut off as a precaution.

Norman Stewart, 51, a civil servant, of Forest Park, Stonehaven, said the fire at St Leonard’s Hotel was a tragedy.

Norman and his wife Heather had celebrated their silver wedding anniversary at the Stonehaven hotel two years ago.

He said: “It’s very sad. It’s a bit of local history.”

St Leonard’s Hotel is owned by Kirkwood Homes, which bought the site from Alan and Wilma Bruce, of Netherley, in September last year.

Mrs Bruce today said: “I felt very sad when I heard about the fire. It is such an iconic building in Stonehaven and it was terrible to hear this had happened.”

jmckiernan@ajl.co.uk