JUST five months after being gutted by fire the Phoenix Hotel on Wisbech’s historic North Brink has taken on a new look.

In April the 16-bedroom hotel and restaurant was destroyed by arsonists leaving Fenland District Council to pick up the �100,000 bill to make it safe.

Owner Nancy Wong has gone missing and the council has put a legal charge on the site so when it is sold it will get its money back.

The council has managed to save the facade of the hotel with structural steelwork on the inside allowing scaffolding on the outside to be removed.

Around �1,500 of Fenland Renaissance money has been used to paint mock windows on the front of the building.