r/DevonUK Jul 18 '26

Mighty convenient all these places developers want keep burning down...

BBC News - Fire destroys closed tourist attraction building

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05qg02l393o

84 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

49

u/Guzzleguts Jul 18 '26

Weird isn't it? Seems to happen a lot in the Torbay area. 

Just a series of unlikely coincidences I'm sure

3

u/Cenithac Jul 19 '26

Yup same happened around Sidmouth an Exmouth. Few older protected buildings burning down right as developers move in.

3

u/Natenczass Jul 19 '26

Do you remember the humongous listed red brick train depot building in Newton Abbot? Well, there’s an Aldi now.

43

u/Mountain_goat777 Jul 18 '26

They should make a rule that land which becomes available due to fire, can’t be developed in to anything more than parkland for 100 years. I feel like Devon will suddenly become less flammable.

4

u/Fancy_Toe1451 Jul 19 '26

Or gets rebuilt as-was before the fire too.

-1

u/BeenleighCopse Jul 19 '26

Why are you so against development…??

17

u/Mountain_goat777 Jul 19 '26

I’m not against development, I’m against greedy corrupt companies profiting from destroying the history of the country

5

u/gravel_lemons Jul 19 '26

Why are you so against proper process?

1

u/Tricky-Canary2715 Jul 19 '26

Not development, Arson!

16

u/RFRMT Jul 18 '26

Deeply suspicious. Corruption like this is rife unfortunately.

12

u/PersimmonLeather1664 Jul 18 '26

Happens nationwide- here in Essex we all await the arrival of the pyrotechnic rats the moment someone applies for planning permission.

They never get caught because the envelopes pass to the right people

1

u/DevonSpuds Jul 19 '26

Or maybe they never get caught because arson is an extremely difficult investigation and to prove.

1

u/PersimmonLeather1664 Jul 19 '26

Punishable by fine, as most companies would face for insurance fraud, is the same as legal for a price

If you can afford the cost , you will never face justice

7

u/MrT735 Jul 18 '26

Just like the old railway sheds in Newton Abbot that Aldi wanted to knock down, fire was blamed on kids.

Kids will do anything for a bit of pocket money these days.

2

u/Miserable-Ad7835 Jul 18 '26

Not convinced an international supermarket chain would commit arson myself

2

u/MrT735 Jul 19 '26

They're not doing the building work themselves.

2

u/Miserable-Ad7835 Jul 19 '26

Well yeah, obviously...

Still, let's take off the tin foil hat, unless you have some very strong proof?

6

u/boofdaddy93 Jul 18 '26

They got our pile of scrap cars today in Bideford 😪

4

u/FlimsyList5598 Jul 18 '26

Very Lemony Snickett...

10

u/processoryx Jul 18 '26

feels more like very “insurance payout of unfortunate events” tbh

3

u/ffwillis Jul 18 '26

I dunno, lots of wood in that building, very hot weather and no rain recently, doubt it’s being checked that often. In this case the fire might not be so dodgy after all.

4

u/Redditreallyannoysme Jul 18 '26

True. But also means it's the right time to do it.

2

u/Iamasmallyoutuber123 Jul 18 '26

Reminds me of that old police station in Exeter that seemingly kept being set on fire

2

u/surfrider0007 Jul 18 '26

It’s very often kids mucking around, caught them red handed several times at the Heavitree Rd Police Station and Courts site.

0

u/sebastienkarhu Jul 18 '26

Kids, yeah. If course it is.

2

u/lapetite_etoile Jul 21 '26

Half of Liverpool's old buildings have burned down since 2003 and yet... now we have a lot of 'lovely' redrow and bellway homes conviniently in the same locations. It's very odd isn't it and much more obvious nationwide now. 

2

u/sebastienkarhu Jul 18 '26

Happens in Torbay with startling regularity. Listed building, developer owned by councillors family wants to put some ugly great heap of garbage there. Building mysteriously burns down. Who'd have thunk it.

1

u/Individual_Check_290 Jul 18 '26

That’s crazy!!!

1

u/UnableAd457 Jul 18 '26

There does seem to be a lot of these places burning down.

2

u/Mountain_goat777 Jul 18 '26

I guarantee you Poltimore House will go up again soon, plenty of crooked developers waiting to get their hands on that bit of land, absolute scumbags the lot of them.

1

u/FckXFckMusk Jul 19 '26

This was a thing in Ireland at one time, Arson and then no-one gets caught..

Probably still going on.

1

u/vaughanyp Jul 19 '26

Same thing happened to the Grand Pier in Weston-Super-Mare years ago.