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The last couple of years have been hard on England’s built heritage. Iconic structures have either fallen to fires or axes across the country, from Northumbria’s Sycamore Gap being felled in 2023, to the Black Country’s Crooked House burning down the same year and Manchester’s Hotspur Press igniting in a blaze a few months ago — it's a bad time to be an old building or landmark.
In the West Midlands, dozens of architecturally valuable buildings stand derelict, seemingly awaiting their fates: from the monumental brutalism of the Smallbrook Queensway Ringway Centre to the grandeur of Methodist Central Hall.
Now another one of the West Midlands oldest structures has burnt down. “It was always going to happen,” says Tom, a Droitwich Spa local who is showing me around the town, as he points to the smoking embers of a black-and-white timbered building that dates back to the early 16th and 15th centuries.
The Raven Hotel, in the small Worcestershire spa town, mysteriously went up in flames on 10 August, after sitting empty for over 15 years. The Raven closed in 2010, although locals expected it would be back open soon, due to its heavy use in the preceding decades.
The hotel in its original state was a beautiful example of Midlands Tudor timbering, with added Victorian flourishes and a name to rival an Edgar Allan Poe poem. It's rumoured that King Charles I stayed in the building during the Civil War. Over the last decade and a half, during which it was closed, the hotel became a hotspot for so-called YouTube ‘urban explorers’ and bored teenagers alike.
A few days ago, two unnamed teenage girls were arrested in relation to the fire at the Grade II listed site. Rumours have been swirling on local Facebook groups about whether the fire was an accident or something more nefarious. Amidst all this speculation, one thing is certain to Droitwich locals — the ancient building should never have been allowed to sit empty for a decade and a half.
