The Lord Leycester Hotel, often known simply as the Lord Leycester, is a former

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that is located on Jury Street in the centre of the town. The building has variously been private housing, a hotel, and an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

during its history. Both the main building and the annexe are Grade II-

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

Jury Street House was built in the 16th century, and was originally the property of Ward of Barford, an Elizabethan merchant. In 1654 it was purchased by Sir Simon Archer, MP then local Justice of the Peace, as his town residence.''History of Warwick Pubs'', by John Crossling
accessed 28 November 2016. In 1694, it was the 0.5 metre thick stone walls of Jury Street House that prevented the Great Fire of Warwick, which destroyed the town's centre, from progressing down Jury Street to the half-timbered houses beyond. In the 18th century the town centre was rebuilt in

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, and Jury Street House was given the Georgian frontage that it has retained to 2005. The Archer family of Umberslade in

Tanworth-in-Arden Tanworth-in-Arden (; often abbreviated to Tanworth) is a small village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is southeast of Birmingham and northeast of Redditch, and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council ...

, who added the frontage and made extensive alterations, then turned Jury Street House into the Three Tuns Inn. In 1800 the inn was sold to John Evans, who divided it into two town houses, numbers 17 and 19 Jury Street. In 1925, Arthur Henry Tyack, the then owner of the Warwick Arms hotel, bought 19 Jury Street in order to turn it into a hotel, and opened the Lord Leycester hotel in 1926. In 1927 Tyack bought 17 Jury Street as well and combined the two back into a single whole. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the hotel was requisitioned for use by the

Ministry of Production The Ministry of Production was a British government department created in February 1942, initially under the title Ministry of War Production, but the following month "War" was dropped from the title. Its purpose was to fill a gap in the machinery ...

. It was handed over to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

military in 1943, which used it as an Officers' Club, adding the "tower" extension. At the end of the war, the hotel was handed back to Tyack. In 1967 the hotel was bought by Norfolk Hotels, and in 1998 it was bought by Hoby Hotels. It closed in summer 2016 for conversion to residential use.

Footnotes

References

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External links

Tea at the Lord Leycester hotel
taken on 1953-05-29 {{coord, 52.2818, -1.5865, type:landmark_region:GB-WAR, display=title Hotels in Warwickshire Buildings and structures in Warwick Grade II listed buildings in Warwickshire