Originally built circa 1892, and named the Station Hotel it operated as a commercial and family hotel. Marketed as ‘the nearest hotel to the station’ it bears the name of its core clientele – railway passengers.  From the advertising records its main market was in the Leeds and Sheffield areas.

The hotel has been used ever since, although in a much reduced way since the 1970s due to the decline of UK tourism and cheap foreign holidays.  However, it is currently under going restoration to bring it back to its former glory and Victorian granduer and to be operated as a small boutique hotel.

In this advert from 1894, the hotel is described as ‘irreporacable in every department’ and ‘expert in all things gastromic’, and show a very early adoption of the newly invented telephone with it national telephone number seven!

The advert also interestingly shows the building before the bar was made public. You can see the entrances were changed above to allow a new 3rd entrance on Windor Crescent, presumably for hotel guests allowing the front entrance for the ‘public bar’.

Advertising in the 1920s shows a major restructuring and electrication, so the original rooms would have been lit by gas and candlelight.

The main building has suprisingly changed very little in the 120 years since, and many original Victorian features can be seen throughout.