Imperial Hotel Fire 1971

The Imperial Hotel c1960
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Around this time a fire destroyed much of the Imperial Hotel which was, then, owned by Trust Houses. The previous year (1970 on the 6th of March) The Moorland Hotel, Haytor, was also much destroyed by fire. This started at midnight - a fact of which I am fully aware as I was the manager of the hotel – also owned by Trust Houses. It occurred during the police annual dinner which was taking place at the time. Local doctor, Jack Harrison was starting a speech wishing our local policeman a happy move to another station, when I had to interrupt him to announce that the fire had just started. It was a great surprise, then, for me to learn the following year that the Imperial Hotel had suffered a similar fate. Tragically, the wife of the then manager had ventured into the hotel in search of their cat and was overcome in some way and perished in the building. How much of the original building remained, after the fire, I cannot say as I have not visited Exmouth since those far-off days. What became of all the people I knew during the late 1960s and early 1970s I wonder, as little is mentioned of these tragic events nowadays.