The Royal Victoria Hotel is a former hotel situated in Newport, Shropshire. It dates back to 1830 and gains its name from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, who as Princess Victoria of Kent visited the hotel in 1832 and who gifted the hotel with a pair of tortoise shells to commemorate the visit. The building has been extended over time and operated as a hotel, bar and restaurant before it finally closed in 2015.

History

It was originally called the Union, and built on the site of the Bear Inn. Local people subscribed to the building project of the new Union, which was to be the principal hotel in the town, built with the fashionable five bays and two and a half storeys surmounted by a very shallow pediment of the period. The first manager was William Liddle who came from the Red Lion in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. It was renamed in 1832 after the Princess Victoria visited it and she herself declared that it would now be called 'The Royal Victoria Hotel'. The hotel grew to the rear after the demolition of the factories and workhouses, which were built along the back of the hotel. The hotel grew further with the building of a

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

and cocktail bar in 1910. A second entrance from Water Lane was created for the use of people coming from the canal area, with Newport being on the main route to

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Many notable people stayed in the hotel over the years, but a fire in 1974 destroyed most of the photographs and memorabilia, but it is believed that among the names to stay in the hotel were

James Hain Friswell James Hain Friswell (8 May 1825 – 12 March 1878) was an English essayist and novelist. He was born at Newport, Shropshire, son of William Friswell, of 93 Wimpole Street, London, attorney-at-law, and educated at Apsley School, near Woburn, B ...

, Oliver Lodge and

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

. The hotel closed in 2014, briefly reopened in 2015 before closing again. In 2017 permission was sought to redevelop the building as flats, retaining the facade while demolishing the rear extension. However work did not proceed as promised with delays blamed on legal issues and the Covid pandemic. The owners obtained further planning permission to develop it as 17 apartments in 2021. It was still undeveloped, shorn up by scaffolding and complained of as an "eyesore" in February 2021 when a director of the property firm told

BBC Radio Shropshire BBC Radio Shropshire is the BBC's local radio station serving Shropshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Boscobel Drive in Shrewsbury. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 61,00 ...

the building needed to be demolished, a route not allowed by the local authority

Telford and Wrekin District Council Telford and Wrekin Council is the local authority of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The district of Telford and Wrekin was grant ...

, who reportedly did not want the building de-listed and demolished.

Architectural

The hotel is in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed stone with a rusticated ground floor and quoins, above which is a frieze and a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. At the top is a moulded

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

cornice, and the roof is tiled. There are three storeys and five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

that are separated by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s with decorative

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, and above the middle three bays is a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. The central doorway has a Tuscan porch, and the windows are

sashes Sashes Island is an island in the River Thames in England at Cookham Lock near Cookham, Berkshire. It is now open farmland, but has Roman and Anglo-Saxon connections. The island is located between Hedsor Water and the present navigation chan ...

. In front of the hotel are forecourt railings. It is a Grade II Listed Building.

References

External links

Hotel website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Victoria Hotel Buildings and structures in Newport, Shropshire Hotels in Shropshire Hotel buildings completed in 1830 Hotels established in 1832 1830 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Shropshire

History

Architectural

See also

References

External links