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The controversial demolition of a large modern hotel and events venue in Hereford is now under way, despite local opposition.

Permission was granted in April for the Three Counties Hotel off the A465 Belmont Road to be knocked down and replaced with a Lidl discount supermarket.

A legal challenge by the Save the Three Counties group of local residents was then made to Herefordshire Council saying its award of planning permission hadn’t taken into account the hotel’s role as a community asset. This appears to have been unsuccessful.

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According to local news source Hereford Voice, the retailer has now written to residents explaining that its contractor Wye Valley Demolition will begin work to remove the hotel, which is less than 50 years old, from Monday November 4, and that this will take until late January.

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Lidl said it was “keen to work in harmony with our neighbours and local residents”, giving out contact numbers for both itself and its contractor.

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The firm said in July it wanted to begin demolition “as early as possible” after having sent bailiffs to remove a group of travellers who had broken into and set up camp in the hotel site the previous month.

The previous wire-mesh fencing around the hotel site has been replaced by two-metre-high wooden hoardings coated in anti-climb paint, making the site largely invisible from the outside.

Lidl has said in intends to appoint a contractor to build the supermarket early next year.