DUNMORE HOTEL

The Dunmore Hotel at Shaldon is to be demolished and rebuilt as luxury flats. It has been sold to a large property developer in London. Contracts were exchanged on Monday night at a price understood to be in excess of £90,000. In October 1968, Mr Harry Hook sold out to Mr Arthur Bladon who, together with his wife, has been running it.

The news will come as a great disappointment to the many organisations who have been holding their annual dinners at the Dunmore. ‘I am sad to see the end of the Dunmore,’ said Mr Bladon, ‘but when someone offers you the “pot of gold” only half way to the end of the rainbow, it needs a stronger will than mine to say No. I also looked ahead and realised that when, and if, Mr John Randall builds his hotel on the Dolphin Court site in Shaldon, then the Dunmore would obviously become uneconomic.’

SALARY INCREASES

Teignmouth councillors were concerned that Newton Abbot Urban Council might have agreed to increase the salaries of certain officers without consulting the steering committee of the Local Government Reorganisation. ‘I have some disturbing news,’ announced the chairman, Mr Fredrick Morris. ‘Yesterday, the clerk of the joint committee came upon an agenda from that council in which there was a minute referring to increase in salaries. The clerk, Mr Whittacker, said he could not give our representative any information because he had been instructed not to do so. It appears to me that they have something to hide.’

‘SUMMER CAVALCADE’

The show will be taken over by the council. The cast have been re-assured that the show will go on for the rest of the season. The future of the production has been in the balance following court proceedings against the director, Miss Mary Jane Burcher. There will be no change in the show itself, and Miss Burcher will continue to help with the management.

IN DAYS OF YORE

50 years ago: A local chemist advertised flyswatters for 4d. He claimed that accurate use would prevent the spread of typhoid, consumption and diarrhoea.

25 years ago: Hopes were raised that Teignmouth would become an important port for the export of lignite. The prediction was made after an estimated 800m tons of this fuel was discovered in seams at Bovey Tracey.

LICENCE DODGERS

TV detector vans are touring in South Devon again. The cars, above, are equipped to locate all types of TV sets - including colour. A Polaroid camera, which is built into the sophisticated equipment of the car, takes a picture of the signal being received Into the house, and shows just where the set is º and even which channel is being viewed. The apparatus is operated by a highly skilled technician, and there is virtually no chance of escaping when the cars are about.

RIVIERA CINEMA

Late Saturday night: Christopher Lee in Rasputin, the Mad Monk; Vanishing Point; The Soldier Who Declared Peace; Bedknobs and Broomsticks.