THE Feathers Hotel in Ludlow has temporarily closed to the public as a precautionary measure on the advice of health professionals from Public Health England (PHE) in the West Midlands and Shropshire Council.

The voluntary move follows laboratory test results establishing links between Legionella bacteria found in water samples from the hotel plumbing and two separate, confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in guests (both from Merseyside) who stayed at the hotel.

The first case was diagnosed in April 2017 and has recovered.

Sadly the most recently diagnosed individual, who stayed at the hotel in July, has died.