Early Hotels - Questions & Memories

[Michael]

Hello Cambrian, history repeats itself. This incidence at the pumping house, you will remember that I raised this first on the forum, because I was in school with the lad from Rhos. I never, ever expected anyone to have any memory of this, but to my upper surprise you filed in with the details.
 This was my very first experience of death, either sudden or otherwise. I can still, whilst in type this post, visualise this lad. I recall his hair style, his build, everything. He was buried in Llangwystenin church yard. Many from Colwyn Bay County school attended but I was not one of them, I didn't know him that well and he was not in my class and possibly not even in my year.

[Ian]

and something called the Anglo-Spanish Clearing Office (which has a vague whiff of MI6 or MI9 about it)

Probably MI9, as it seems to have been set up in the mid-'30s, shortly before MI9 was established, although with the SIS, who knows? In 1937 there was a flurry of parliamentary questions relating to unpaid creditors as a consequence of the Spanish Civil war, so it appears to have been a conduit of funds for some reason.

I'd heard about the experimental radar station from someone stationed here during the war.  He only knew it existed, not what it did, but I've long been curious as to what it might have been.

[Ian]

MI9's emphasis was on evasion and avoidance in enemy territory. This is a 'Bloodchit' provided by them to servicemen which identified them if brought down in Soviet-held areas.

[Ian]

This is an account of Airey Neave's escapes whilst held prisoner in WWII Germany and Poland. It makes for fascinating reading.

http://www.arcre.com/archive/mi9/neave

[Bedelia]

Bedelia

In addition to the IR (James Callaghan was here for a period and one of his daughters born in the local hospital) there were also the Coast Artillery School and Practice Camp; Companies House; and something called the Anglo-Spanish Clearing Office (which has a vauge whiff of MI6 or MI9 about it); the RAF radar station and a mysterious experimental radar station eventually demolished in 1956.  The CAS is well covered elsewhere on this site and a leaflet is widely available locally. Plenty to be going on with!

Hi, Cambrian.  Thanks for the reply.  Yes, I'd read about Callaghan, Companies House at the Grand Hotel, the RAF radar station in the Orme complex, and the CAS - that leaflet was available on Amazon, but is currently out of stock; I'll try local outlets.  The Anglo-Spanish Clearing Office sounds interesting; will bear that in mind.

However, what is still elusive so far is the experience of the hotel owners who were turfed out to make way for the civil service offices and personal accounts from those who worked for the Revenue (either locals or evacuees from London).  If you hear of anyone, do please ask them to drop me a line here!  Thanks again.

[Bedelia]

Some photos of the Gogarth Abbey/Penmorfa Hotel in its final days before closure:

Stayed here with my mum in 1999 on our first visit back to Llandudno after a 20 year absence.  She remembered it as an exclusive upmarket hotel in the 50s, where locals would go for functions, dinner and cocktails, and we thought it would be nice to stay on the quieter West Shore to walk our dog on the beach.  (My grandparents used to drive to West Shore in the evenings to watch the sunset with a flask of tea; & when I was a child in the 70s, we'd go to feed the donkeys windfall apples in their field by Maesdu.) 

So it was a huge disappointment to find it so run down, prior to redevelopment: sleazy fixtures and fittings and appallingly poor quality food - bread so cheap and thin at breakfast that toast stuck to the plate with moisture…!  If we hadn't booked for week in advance and come such a long way, we would have walked straight out. 

No surprise then to find that it had been sold for flats a couple of years later.  They had no business to be trading like that.  Such a shame.

[Cambrian]

Bedelia - the leaflet is available free of charge from the Town Council or the Tourist Information Office at the Library.

The experimental radar station was built in 1942 and thought to be a radar training college.  It went under the initials ADRDE - Aerial Defence Research and Development Establishment.  A large concrete and brick with around 50 rooms the building was three storeys high, with a revolving dish on the roof and was nicknamed "Hatter's Castle" by locals. It was also known by the authorities as "X3".  Always closely guarded, its true role still seems shrouded in mystery.

Many readers will have known or heard of the late Dafydd Hughes, the Madoc Street bookseller.  He started his working life as a teenager with the Inland Revenue and moved with them for a period to the south of England when the department left Llandudno.

The Crescent Hotel acted as a cafeteria for civil servants.

[Bedelia]

Thanks again, Cambrian.  The experimental radar station was different than the actual RAF radar station in the Summit complex? 

They have archive copies of the Llandudno Advertiser and the Ormescliffe Gazette (Inland Rev journal) at the British Library; I'm going to see them this week.  Will see what these turn up.

Off thread, but also found this curiosity:

http://babylonwales.blogspot.co.uk/2006/06/pulp-fiction-in-llandudno.html

Anyone know anything about this intriguing gentleman…?

[rhuddlan]

Hi,
Does anyone know the whereabouts of a hotel called  (in1896) The Manchester Parade Hotel?
I have found that my g. grandparents stayed there in August of that year.
I found there names on a list of visitors to Llandudno that is online at the newspaper archives.
I suspect the Hotel's name has changed subsequently.
A photo would be a bonus if anyone has one.
Many Thanks
Rhuddlan.
Ps  the paper was called   The Llandudno Advertiser and list of Visitors

[DaveR]

Hi,
Does anyone know the whereabouts of a hotel called  (in1896) The Manchester Parade Hotel?
I have found that my g. grandparents stayed there in August of that year.
I found there names on a list of visitors to Llandudno that is online at the newspaper archives.
I suspect the Hotel's name has changed subsequently.
A photo would be a bonus if anyone has one.
Many Thanks
Rhuddlan.
Ps  the paper was called   The Llandudno Advertiser and list of Visitors

I suppose the first place that springs to mind would be the Parade Hotel in Church Walks?
[smg id=2622]

[Hugo]

If you look on Google  street view for Church Walks you'll see the building.  It's not far from the Pier and next to it but across Vadre Lane is the Queen Victoria.
I've got a photo of the Hotel in 1933 when there was an archway between the Parade and the Queen Victoria.  I'll send the photo direct to you by e-mail asap

[Midmarion]

Does anyone know why the impressive archway leading into Vardre Lane was built.   I grew up in a house opposite the Parade Hotel between 1940 and 1951.

[Fester]

Does anyone know why the impressive archway leading into Vardre Lane was built.   I grew up in a house opposite the Parade Hotel between 1940 and 1951.

I always imagined it would be a mews, leading to stabling for horses at the rear of the North Parade hotels.

[rhuddlan]

Thanks for your responses. they are much appreciated.
Rhuddlan

[Hugo]

The arch was erected around 1855 by Thomas Owen who also built the St Georges Hotel and was the Back North Parade until 1910.  Stabling predominated and this marvellous architectural flourish was intended to evoke the classical grandeur of gentry coach houses.
I believe that a lorry or something hit the arch and it then had to be demolished.