Built between 1936 and 1937, the Riviera Hotel at Bowleaze, Weymouth, had a problematic start when its owner went bankrupt just as construction was nearing completion. It finally opened under new ownership in 1939, only to be disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. From 1958 to 1999, the Riviera was one of Pontins’ holiday destinations and was designated a Grade II listed building in 1997. The last few years have seen a sad decline in its condition as it awaits a much-needed refurbishment.

Here ASHLEY SMITH looks at the history of this striking Art Deco hotel.

A hotel at Bowleaze Cove was the idea of Joseph Rowland Bradley, who was one of two partners in the legal firm of Messrs Baker & Co of Weston-super-Mare. In February 1936, he purchased ten acres of land at the largely undeveloped Bowleaze, including part of the beach, with the intention of establishing a holiday camp there. When his original plans were rejected by Weymouth Corporation, he then looked to build a destination hotel for “better-class artisans”, at a time when car ownership continued to see great growth. He opted for a building with a “central hall under [a] tower and bedrooms leading off in each direction, more or less like chalets”.

The plans for the £40,000 hotel (£30,000 for construction, £10,000 for fittings, furnishings, etc) were drawn up by the Weymouth architect Lionel Stewart Smith. Construction was carried out between 1936 and 1937 by the Trussed Concrete Steel Company using reinforced concrete under the Hennebique system. The crescent-shaped art deco hotel had 69 bedrooms along its two long accommodation wings. Symmetrical in design, both were originally single-storey with a two-storey block at each end. The central block between the two wings, complete with a 50-foot tower, contained the reception, dining and dance hall, smoking room and kitchens on the ground floor, and a billiards room, card room, two management flats and staff quarters above. It was also originally intended to lay out gardens in front of the hotel, with squash and badminton courts, and build a reinforced concrete pier on the beach below.
Bradley planned to erect a further four similar hotels around the West Country coast, including at Bournemouth, Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon, and operate all five under a newly-formed company. Although he was close to seeing his Weymouth hotel open on May 16, 1937 for the peak season, he ran into financial troubles and it remained closed once virtually completed, minus decoration, furnishings and landscaping. Bradley went on to declare personal bankruptcy in 1938: “Unfortunately, I was unable to carry the finance right through. Nobody could help me. Apart from furnishing, I was within £1,000 of making [the hotel] a going concern.”
The empty hotel was left with only a caretaker, Ernest Abbott, on site, appointed by the Official Receiver at Bristol. It later transpired that Bradley had unlawfully used money from his legal firm’s clients for his own ventures and investments, including the purchase of the land at Bowleaze. He was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude for fraudulent conversion in 1940.
The hotel was subsequently sold and the final works were completed ahead of its opening as the Riviera for the summer holiday season on May 28 1939. Advertised as “Weymouth’s most perfect holiday centre” and a “holiday camp with all the amenities and comforts of a first-class hotel”, all of the rooms were fitted with divan beds, central heating, and hot and cold water. Outside the hotel had its private beach and various sport amenities such as a tennis court, bowling green and putting green. The Southern Times noted that it ‘command[s] one of the loveliest marine views in the South of England’ with its ‘wonderful panoramic view of Weymouth Bay’.
For much of the Second World War, the hotel was the Riviera Residential Council School, which housed ‘evacuated physically defective children’, most of whom came from special schools run by London County Council. They were accompanied by a group of teachers, nurses and helpers, and the Riviera’s then-hoteliers, Vincent Smith and his wife, acted as supervisors. The hotel reopened to the public in 1945.

The Pontins years (1958-1999)
In 1958, the hotel was taken over by Fred Pontin as part of his holiday camp chain, Pontins. In around 1960, the single-storey sections of the two accommodation blocks were extended to make them two-storey, increasing the total number of bedrooms to around 110. A ballroom and an 18-metre heated, underwater floodlit outdoor swimming pool (with adjacent children’s pool) were also built. The ballroom suffered a fire in November 1960, leaving a 15-foot hole through its wooden floor and a load of burning debris in the billiard room and bar area below.

Another fire occurred in August 1968, damaging the ballroom, bar, café, nursery and billiard room. The hotel’s guests were evacuated at around 3am, but were able to return to their rooms two hours later. In around 1968, two new detached accommodation blocks were built behind the hotel, which contained 32 holiday chalets and increased the overall guest capacity to 300.

A refurbishment programme was carried out between 1981 and 1982. All rooms were given their own ensuite bathrooms or showers, plus tea-making facilities, and the hotel’s kitchens were also upgraded and modernised. From 1989, the Riviera became an adult-only establishment. In May 1990, a fire broke out in the staff accommodation block, badly damaging six of the first-floor chalets. In 1997, the hotel became a Grade II listed building, with the Department of National Heritage remarking that it “epitomises the austere approach of the modernists in the immediate pre-war era” and ‘suggests the designer’s acquaintance with contemporary work in Rome and elsewhere’.

Hollybush years and successive owners (1999-2020)
In 1999, the hotel was sold to businessman Martyn Harrison under his new company, Hollybush Associates Ltd. He wished to run it as a hotel rather than the ‘holiday village’ it had been under Pontins, and hoped to attract families and local people to make use of the facilities rather than exclusively adults. He embarked on a £1 million refurbishment scheme, under which he intended to preserve the hotel’s character while bringing it up to modern standards. It was to become an ‘all-year facility catering for holidays, weddings, small conferences and other special events’. The refurbishment was carried out in early 2000 and covered all 108 ensuite rooms, as well as other facilities including the ballroom and swimming pools. The tower was restored and given a new illuminated Riviera sign and a new entrance foyer was created. A reopening ceremony was held on March 27, 2000.
Work then began on a leisure complex and conference facility, containing conference and sundeck areas and an indoor swimming pool, after planning approval was granted in July 2000. A two-storey extension for this new addition was approved in August 2001. The Riviera Leisure Club, available to guests and non-residents, was opened in the spring of 2002 and included a 14-metre pool, steam room, gymnasium, sauna and spa. The new Bay View Suite had its own bar, stage, dance floor and seating for 150 people.
In 2006, Harrison sold the hotel to Ralph and Liz Nubeebuckus, and they in turn sold it to the Saudi Arabian hospitality chain Diyafa Group for £3.5 million in 2009. It then underwent a £4 million refurbishment scheme between 2010 and 2012, which saw a reduction in the number of the hotel’s rooms by making each one larger, updating the reception and dining room areas, and repainting the exterior. Another refurbishment scheme was carried out between 2017 and 2018, including repainting and redecoration, and improving the leisure facilities.

Recent years, closure and decline (2020-present)
During the covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the hotel provided temporary accommodation for the homeless. In 2020, the hotel was placed on the market for £5.5 million, but it was removed the following year after failing to attract a buyer. In February 2022, the ballroom roof suffered damage during Storm Eunice. Planning permission was granted to carry out repair work later in the year and this was followed by a similar planning application, but with a change of the roof materials to be used, approved at the end of 2023.
The hotel accommodated its last guests in October 2022 before closing until further notice and temporary fencing was erected around the site in July 2023. Since then, the hotel has become increasingly dilapidated, with much uncertainty as to the current owner’s intentions. In 2023, the Twentieth Century Society added the hotel to their bi-annual ‘Risk List’ due to “decline and neglect”. Historic England also expressed their concerns and added that the ‘striking local landmark could still have much to offer Weymouth with sensitive conservation’.
In September 2024, the Dorset Echo reported that the former operations supervisor, now acting as site security, claimed the proposed refurbishment of the hotel had not been abandoned and it was intended to repair the ballroom roof and then work on all the rooms.
In April 2025, with little signs of progress, it was reported that Dorset Council were consulting their conservation and planning enforcement officers on the matter.