THE demolition of a century-old church hall in Bournemouth town centre is under way.

Last month Bournemouth council granted permission for St Peter's Hall in Hinton Road to be demolished and replaced with a seven-storey block of student flats with a ground floor cafe.

The decision was dubbed "shameful" by Bournemouth Civic Society, which said the building should have been restored.

Demolition equipment was moved into place on Thursday and by Friday lunchtime the building's facade had been torn away, revealing the vaulted interior - last used as a nightclub - to the public for the first time in several years.

Civic society member and historic buildings surveyor James Weir said: "I watched the demolition and it was a horrible experience. I am very disappointed as I felt the building was a positive asset to the conservation area.

"By the looks of it, no building in a conservation area is safe."

In 2010 an application was submitted to demolish the building which was rejected by council planners. An appeal was also dismissed, but the planning inspector said the building had a negative impact on the Old Christchurch Road Conservation Area "in its current much altered form".

In allowing the present application, the authority said the inspector's judgement was a relevant planning consideration and no detailed heritage statement was sought.

Mr Weir said the building's heritage, rather than its appearance alone, should have been considered as part of the application process.

"The proposed building is just a copy of St Peter's Hall, the same bay windows, the same entrance," he said.

"That says to me that they consider those features worth saving, but a copy is inferior, it doesn't bear the patina of age or the imprint of the architect. That is lost."

He said he had considered seeking a judicial review of the council's decision but had concluded that it would be too expensive.

The hall was built in 1908 by local architects HE Hawker, who also built the Westbourne Arcade and contributed to numerous other structures around Bournemouth including St Peter’s itself.

Several applications have sought to alter or demolish the building to make way for student housing, with mixed success.