THE County Hotel, one of Malvern's first water cure establishments, was bought 50 years ago by the Ministry of Supply.
The intention was to convert the building to a hostel for apprentices at TRE and RRDE.
It had been put up for auction by its owners, Western and Midlands Hotels Ltd, the previous year but no-one bid for it.
Councillors deplored the sale, which they said would harm Malvern's prospects as a tourism centre.
The Malvern Gazette's leader column speculated that the town might develop in another way and become "a scientific research centre with its own linked light industries, libraries and colleges".
The hotel was indeed converted to a hostel; after some decades in that capacity, it was subsequently made into luxury apartments.
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