In the North Wales Pioneer this week
A LLANDUDNO seafront hotel owned by one of the town's most important families has been sold to a care firm.
The Esplanade Hotel, on Lan y Mor Road, was sold this week to Blackpool firm Safehands, which runs holiday homes for disabled people, along with their families and carers.
The four-storey Victorian building with an asking price of £1.2million was purchased for an undisclosed sum.
The hotel was owned and run by John McDonald, who died in January last year, and his wife Gwenda.
Mrs McDonald is the grand-daughter of Jack Payne; the founder of JE Payne Ltd, which ran major attractions in the town such as the Winter Gardens Ballroom, on Gloddaeth Street - which, until closure in 1986, welcomed performers such as Gracie Fields and the Beatles - and Payne's Royal Cafe.
Mr Payne created the 59-bedroom hotel by joining five of the terraced holiday homes on the seafront during the 1920s.
Cllr Billy Evans, chair of Llandudno Town Council's tourism committee, said: "The main thing is that it's going to be developed, and not going to be left empty like some other locations.
"It's going to a good cause, and it will still keep its holiday theme."
Cllr Evans, who had worked on the promenade when the business had been run by Jack Payne's son Charles, said: "I'm sure Charlie Payne would be smiling if he could see this was happening."
Neil Thomson, associate director for estate agents Colliers International in Manchester, said: "Gwenda and her family are genuinely happy to have sold the hotel to a business that provides an excellent service to people with a range of disabilities and offers respite for their families."
