The Park Hotel was a railway-owned hotel at East Cliff,

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

, England, used for many years as offices, but now being restored as a hotel. The hotel opened in 1883 and was operated jointly by the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

and

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

. In the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

of railway companies, ownership passed to the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

. When the UK's railways were nationalised in 1948, it passed to the British Transport Commission's Hotels Executive, and thence to

British Transport Hotels British Transport Hotels (BTH) was the hotels and catering business of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. Origins of the company Britain's private railway companies pioneered the concept of the railway hotel, initially at locati ...

, who sold it in 1950. It has subsequently been, and as of September 2014 remains, used as offices, and renamed "East Cliff County Offices", by

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

, who also had a modern annexe, adjacent. Located on a small hill, the red-brick building overlooks Preston railway station, on the West Coast Main Line, to its north-west and

Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...

and the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

to its south-east. In its heyday, the hotel was connected to the southern end of the main south-bound platform (the modern-day platform 4) at Preston station by a covered footbridge Various pre-1923 objects from the hotel are in the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

at York. These include

Mappin & Webb Mappin & Webb (M&W) is an international jewellery company headquartered in England. Mappin & Webb traces its origins to a silver workshop founded in Sheffield . It now has retail stores throughout the UK. Mappin & Webb has held Royal Warrants ...

cutlery and Elkington & Co. tableware and candlesticks, the latter marked with the initials "P.P." and a lamb and flag, the coat of arms of the city. The historic hotel structure was used for many decades as an office building for the

, along with an adjoining tower, constructed in the 1960s. In 2020, the modern office tower was demolished as part of a plan by the Council to restore the hotel to operation.

References

Buildings and structures in Preston Hotels in Lancashire Railway hotels in England Hotel buildings completed in 1883 Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway London and North Western Railway London, Midland and Scottish Railway British Transport Commission Lancashire County Council {{Lancashire-struct-stub