This must easily be Blackpool’s most recognisable hotel, famous for being the resorts only one that is situated on the prom side of the road.
But what of the history of the Metropole? Do you know of its beginnings and how it developed? I have being doing a little bit of research – enjoy!
Its beginnings stretch as far back as 1776 when a local farmer from Layton by the name of Lawrence Bailey embarked on his new venture. Nine years later in 1785 the construction was completed and an advert appeared in the Manchester Mercury on June 14th of that year.
It started out as a 34 bedroom hotel, taking the name of its founder, Bailey’s. It had three dining rooms and a coffee lounge. At the time it just had three rival hotels fighting for custom. Imagine that, and the views back then? No Tower, no piers, no Golden Mile
In 1826 it was all change in both name and ownership. Robert Dickinson was the new owner and the hotel became the Higher Royal Hotel, which it remained as for 26 years until 1852 when it became Rossall’s Dickson Hotel after being taken over by Robert Rossall.
Throughout this period of time there was no promenade, no sea wall. In 1856 a significant change occurred in the history of the resort as the first promenade was built. It ran from the hotel to the Houndshill area. It was made of asphalt, but this was then upgraded to include a cobbled granite sea- wall in 1870 with the promenade sitting on top of this.
With the construction of this new promenade, the hotel now had an enviable position as the other hotels all sat on the landward side of the promenade whilst Bailey’s (the hotel had reverted to its formative name again by 1867) sat on the shore.
1875 was a momentous occasion as the first ever town council meeting took place at the hotel. I wonder if they realised at the time of that first meeting its significance and that it would be marked down in the history of time?
Another significant development occurred in 1885 when the trams arrived. They followed the line of the promenade, again taking the landward side of the hotel. It was on the 12th March 1885 that the first section of track was laid directly outside Bailey’s. At that time the motor car was still in its infancy and no one would have foreseen the future problems of shared road space between tram and car. It was horse and cart and tram that shared the road back then. I wonder if the forefathers of Blackpool trams could have seen the future, how that would have affected their decision making i.e. would they have gone the sea side of the hotel?
Down the years the hotel has seen various developments. In 1873 an East wing was added whilst in 1876 shops were an addition to the building on the landward side. A substantial renovation took place at the turn of the new century in 1900 when it was sold to Spiers and Pond Ltd. The hotel expanded to twice the size it was as it took on the Victorian appearance that it still holds to this day.
The hotel gained the name by which it is now known way back in 1896 after it was bought by JT Murray and he named it ‘Hotel Metropole’.
In July 1905 there was a week of festivities after the widening of the prom to South Shore and sea defence works were officially opened. Mayors and their ladies from all over Britain were guests in the Metropole.
As Britain went to war with Germany in 1939, the hotel was requisitioned by the government as part of the war effort. With the war over, the hotel was purchased back from the Government in 1947 by F. Price and the newly formed ‘The Metropole Hotel (Blackpool) Limited Company’
In 1955 the hotel landed in the hands of the Butlin’s chain as Billy Butlin bought it. Then in 1998 Butlins sold their hotels to Grand Hotels and the hotel name changed to the ‘Grand Metropole Blackpool’. Britannia Hotels then bought it from in 2004 from Grand Hotels along with a number of other former Butlins Hotels.
Today the Metropole has a total of 209 rooms. It includes 2 restaurants, a coffee lounge and a games room with a snooker table and darts boards and also offers live nightly entertainment shows. It has been completely modernised, whilst retaining its Victorian charm.
