AROUND 200 workers in Ferndown are losing their jobs the week before Christmas as the De Vere Dormy Hotel prepares to close.

And two brides have had their big days cancelled just three months before their weddings.

Staff at the Dormy were given 90 days redundancy notice this week as news emerged that bids to buy the building and keep it running as a hotel had failed.

Instead the management team is considering offers from developers wishing to change the four star hotel to residential use - although at this stage they're unclear whether the building will be converted or razed to the ground to make way for housing.

A spokesman for the hotel said staff were "shocked and saddened" when the news was broken on Tuesday (October 5) that December 19 would be their last day of work.

And at the meeting general manager Cormac O'Keefe told staff: "The situation does not reflect on the performance of any individual or the team as a whole. In fact, you have all been a credit to the hotel, maintaining your professionalism and ensuring that the circumstances have in no way impacted on our guests."

The Dormy has been declining business over recent months for the period after Christmas in the knowledge that the hotel might be closed. The hotel employs around 200 members of staff, around 130 of which work there full time.

First published: October 7