Isle of Wight eyesores in 11 'then and now' photos

Do these eyesores make you angry, do they make you want to move away, do they make you feel embarrassed to live there?

Is it driving you to want to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboards to complain to the Isle of Wight Council, your town and parish councils, the buildings' owners or other bodies?

Here's a list of buildings and landmarks across that need urgent attention - most of them you will no doubt know instantly, but there may be one or two you didn't know or had long forgotten about.

• Read more: I'm too embarrassed to say I live in Sandown! 

(1) THE OCEAN HOTEL, SANDOWN  

ONCE one of the jewels in Sandown's seafont crown, the derelict Ocean Hotel was almost destroyed by fire nearly two years ago, and has been victim to break-ins and vandalism.

Built in 1899, it once welcomed the likes of Charles Darwin and Lewis Carroll — the Beatles of their day.

Now, the Ocean Hotel is the subject of a legal wrangle between owners, Durham-based Phoenix Commercial Property Development, and the Isle of Wight Council, to tidy up the hotel on the Esplanade.

People in Sandown made their feelings heard earlier this year, by protesting outside one of the court hearings in Newport.

Have we missed any Isle of Wight eyesore buildings?

• Tell us what you have seen and why not send us a photo, or historic information?
• Email them to editor@iwcp.co.uk
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(2) NEWPORT ELECTRIC LIGHT WORKS (OR THE POWER STATION)

THIS building was constructed at the turn of the 19th century.

Cables were laid into Newport, as far as Carisbrooke Road, by 1901. The building itself is of a very distinctive design, with stepped, red brick gables, contrasting with the buff brickwork on the main elevations.

It is a building of local historic significance, which has been the subject of previous proposals for redevelopment.

It has been sitting there derelict for decades.

(3) ROYAL SPA HOTEL SITE, SHANKLIN

SITUATED on the seafront, the Royal Spa Hotel was once one of the best hotels on the Island, before it was bombed in 1940.

The vaults, now exposed at the back of a car park near the lift, were used as pumping stations for the Pipeline under the Ocean (PLUTO) project during the Second World War.

That is all that remains at the unattractive site. 

Click here to find out what could be happening at Shanklin's Spa site

(4) THE WORSLEY, WROXALL

ONCE a thriving, popular family village pub in the heart of Wroxall, it now stands derelict after it closed ten years ago.

In 2019, plans were lodged to transform the site into four new houses, but they have stalled since the pandemic, which quickly followed. 

Between 2002 and 2013, the pub had six tenancies, three of which entered into administration.

(5) THE FRANK JAMES MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, EAST COWES

BUILT in 1893, the iconic building in Adelaide Road, East Cowes, was originally called the Frank James Cottage Hospital.

After the landmark was sold by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust in 2002, it has, since then, had ownership issues.

This has led to its vandalism and disrepair, which has seen it added to the 'endangered buildings list' for the United Kingdom.

The Frank James Memorial Hospital in East Cowes is a landmark under threat. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

(6) THE POLARS RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME, NEWPORT

THE historic building on Staplers Road dates back to 1840.

In 1955, it was owned and run by Somerset Care Ltd, but it closed in 2017 and has been left to fall into dilapidation ever since.

Before Somerset Care bought it, Alderman William Baron Mew, of the famous Mew Langton Brewery, lived there.

Demolition of the site is now underway. Click here to find out what is happening to it.

The Polars has strong historic links with leading Island brewery firm, Langton Mews. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

(7) RYDE QUEEN PADDLE STEAMER, ISLAND HARBOUR, BINFIELD

THE PS Ryde (affectionately known as the Ryde Queen) is a paddle steamer that was commissioned and run by Southern Railway as a passenger ferry, between the Isle of Wight and the mainland.

It is now a rusting hulk, rotting away at Island Harbour Marina, at Binfield, near Wootton.

The historic and once elegant vessel, now a monstrosity, steamed majestically across The Solent, between 1937 and 1969, with an interlude during the Second World War, where she served as a minesweeper — and then an anti-aircraft ship, seeing action at D-Day.

The PS Ryde carried tens of thousands of tourists to and from the Island during its service.

The wreck of the paddle steamer, the Ryde Queen, left, at Island Harbour, and during its heyday on The Solent. (Image: Contributed)

(8) THE GRAND HOTEL, SANDOWN

FOR many years, the Grand Hotel was the place every tourist to the Isle of Wight wanted to stay at — perfectly positioned in Sandown Bay, with its iconic vista laid out before them.

The hotel itself, built in 1938, was of an attractive Art Deco design, quite unique for a hotel on the Island, with superb facilities, including jacuzzi, ballroom and cinema.

For many years, this once great hotel, is not so grand anymore — fallen into complete disrepair and neglect.

There were plans submitted to the Isle of Wight Council and approved about a decade ago to demolish it, to make way for a new, modern hotel, which never materialised.

• Read more: Is dilapidated Grand Hotel finally getting a facelift?

The Grand Hotel as he looks today, left, and how it looked on one of its early brochures circa 1938. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)(9) THE ROYAL YORK HOTEL, RYDE

THE sad sight of the Art Deco listed building in the heart of Ryde seems to be a million miles away from looking as it did back in its heyday.

Built in 1937, the Royal York is a good example of the Modern Movement style of architecture and became an instant hit with high-society holidaymakers — but it was forced to close in 2006 due to dwindling guest numbers.

Today, the hotel stands ruined and abandoned — yet it retains the same period features that once made it popular.

The Royal York Hotel in Ryde as it stands today, retaining those exquisite Art Deco features of the 1930s, left, and how it looked just after it opened. (Image: Google Maps)

(10) EAST COWES HEALTH CENTRE

THE former East Cowes Health Centre, on York Avenue, has been closed since 2012 after it was replaced by a new medical centre, closer to the heart of the town, officially opened.

The new centre was part of the town’s regeneration and now sits opposite Waitrose.

The practice’s former home at Down House, has since been left derelict.

Planning permission was granted in 2013 to demolish part of Down House, to make way for two new houses and refurbishment to the remaining area into a third property, but no action was taken and permission has since lapsed.

The East Cowes Health Centre in York Avenue once served the ailing members of the town's population. Now it's in terminal decline. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

The derelict site of the former Burt's brewery in Ventnor, left, and the brewery in the late 1970s. (Image: Contributed)

(11) BURTS BREWERY, VENTNOR

THE former Burt's brewery site on Ventnor High Street, which brewed its last beer almost three decades ago, is an eyesore in the town.

The site was purchased by a business consortium in 1995, trading as Ventnor Brewery Ltd, and they resumed brewing until 2009, when they ceased trading.

The brewery, established in 1840, was bombed during the Second World War, killing seven. 

It is closed permanently and remains dilapidated.

There were plans for terraced housing on the site in 2012, but although some housing has been built, the brewery building remains.