A HEREFORDSHIRE businessman has described the Three Counties Hotel as an "asset to the town and the county" after the news broke of its possible demolition.

Andrew Morris, who runs his own estate agents in Bridge Street and local football club Westfields FC, has used the hotel for functions and events since the mid 1980's and believes that what the hotel has to offer will be hard to replace.

Plans have been submitted to Herefordshire Council to demolish and replace the Belmont Road venue with a Lidl supermarket.

Westfields have held their sportsmans' dinner at the venue every year for the past 32 years, bar the last two years that had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions. The evening's hosted famous football names such as Matthew Le Tissier and both Jack and Bobby Charlton.

Mr Morris said: "It would be a very sad miss for the city. There are some great venues around Hereford but none with the capacity to hold 300 or more guests with ease like the Three Counties has.

"It's a unique venue. It's got huge space for parking, for overnight accommodation and for big functions and conferences all in the same space."

Mr Morris said that it the hotel is very much part of the fabric of the local community and will be a huge loss, not only for the Belmont area but for the whole of Herefordshire.

He said: "I've lost count of the amount of events that I've been to at the hotel over the years, and not only with Westfields. Rotary club dinners, christmas parties, weddings, I've even been to a boxing night there."

There can't be many people in the city that haven't been there for a function, party, or a wedding. I would guess that almost everybody that lives here has been to the Three Counties at some point."

"I, for one, have had some fabulous times there and it would be a real shame to see it go."