Owner aims to create hotel above Market Drayton Post Office site
A historic building in Market Drayton could soon be turned into a new hotel, restaurant and leisure complex.
Market Drayton's post office moved from Queen Street into the Grade II listed Corbet Arms Hotel in High Street in 2014.
Now the owner, businessman Maroof Shah, says he wants to change the upstairs of the post office into a hotel complex.
He said: "We are hopefully going to get a grant from Shropshire Council so we can convert the upstairs into a hotel, restaurant and leisure area. We will be applying for the grant in March. It will look brilliant when it is finished, we hope to restore it back to what it used to be."
Mr Shah, who also runs the town's Nisa supermarket in Dalelands West, bought the Corbet Arms with his brother Arif for £235,000 in August 2009, and has repeatedly tried to renovate it.
He started developing the site in 2010 and now wants to continue with ambitious plans to refurbish the bedrooms and create a fitness centre. He also wants to restore the ballroom and open a restaurant.
Mr Shah has already spent a lot of time restoring the former Corbet Arms Hotel and now runs a successful post office from the ground floor of the site.
Last year the car park adjoining Market Drayton Post Office had been at the centre of a row after changing to a payment system which forced drivers to pay over the phone for parking. Dozens of people contacted the Shropshire Star after receiving fines.
Mr Shah wrote to car park management company Creative Car Parking Solutions to make vital changes allowing people to return to paying by cash at the machines. And now a pay and display machine. He said: "We have not had anymore complaints."
