A seafront hotel has taken on a strange new look as work continues to make the building safe after "defective rendering" fell and injured two people.

Heavy rain and heavy winds last week are believed to have helped to bring down a large section of the front of the Grand Burstin hotel in Folkestone - which crashed into the street below as holidaymakers were arriving by coach.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council says it has been working with hotel operator Britannia to ensure all necessary steps are being taken to make the area safe.

The road immediately outside the hotel - which overlooks Folkestone harbour - was closed for around 24 hours after the accident on the afternoon November 21.

Contractors have now erected a scaffold around the building at first-floor level, which would presumably prevent any further debris reaching the street below.

An entire section of render has now been removed from the front of the hotel.

The part which fell last week was a small amount in the top left corner of the section which has now been entirely taken down.

A council spokesman said: "We have been working with the hotel's management and its contractors - as well as the local highways authority - regarding immediate temporary safety measures and the removal of the defective render.

"Temporary precautions are being put in place by the hotel while further investigation and the removal of other defective rendering continues."

A local ward councillor told KentOnline she believed it was lucky that no one was killed by the falling render which crashed down into the road below.

Cllr Mary Lawes, who represents the harbour ward on Folkestone Town Council, hopes Britannia Hotels will now invest in more effective up-keep of the building.

"That amount coming straight down, somebody could have been killed," she said.

"The maintenance seriously needs to improve. It needs to get its act together for maintenance, because they don't maintain it on the outside.

"The buildings are in a bad way."

Britannia Hotels was recently rated the UK's worst hotel operator for the tenth year running.

The owners of the Grand Burstin earned the unwanted accolade of a decade-long run propping up the table in the annual Which? consumer survey.

Britannia Hotels has been contacted for comment about the ongoing work at the Grand Burstin.