Plans to demolish a Kenilworth hotel have been put on hold, with the scheme deemed no longer commercially viable.

An application to flatten the Peacock Hotel and a neighbouring house to make way for four homes and five apartments was signed off earlier this year, following months of back and forth.

Previous schemes had been withdrawn by the hotel, which at one time was given permission to convert the Warwick Road building into student accommodation.

Since the plans were given the green light, the hotel has insisted it is still open for business, with the Raffles restaurant also remaining open.

Now, a fresh application submitted to Warwick District Council (WDC) has said the scheme to knock down the hotel is currently being shelved - and instead asks for permission just to knock down the house next door.

If approved, the scheme would see the "modern albeit quirky" no 151 Warwick Road knocked down to make way for two homes.

The application says these would be set back from Warwick Road, and would allow for a wider road into the hotel's car park.

"It is not felt that the whole scheme works from a financial perspective" in the current market, the latest scheme said.

The new application would see just 151 Warwick Road knocked down (image via google.maps)

"It is hoped that in the future years, this approval can be implemented, but at the moment, it is considered that the two dwellings on the land of 151 Warwick Road should be implemented first, along with the improvements to the hotel's access road," it added.

When the previous application was signed off last year, Cllr Richard Dickson said it was the latest in a number of schemes that were causing increased frustration for motorists.

"This is going to be a further development of Warwick Road, and I have seen a number of those since I have been on this committee…all of which is adding additional traffic onto that road and causing increased congestion," he told WDC's planning committee. 

"I just wonder whether it's reasonable to require that, when exiting the site, drivers are required to turn left and not turn right and cause chaos on Warwick Road?"

See the full application here.