British Transport Hotels in the 1970s & 80s

[Springs Branch]

Does anyone remember staying at any of the British Transport Hotels in their later days? What were they like?

Browsing through old BR timetables, you inevitably come across a page up the front listing British Transport Hotels. Up until sell-off to private operators around 1984 (a decade ahead of the privatisation of BR), the BTH chain was under arms length control of the British Railways Board.

These were generally grand old Victorian city-terminal hotels (e.g. North British in Edinburgh, or Midland in Manchester) plus a few assorted country resorts (Turnberry or St Ives).

I have an uninformed view of what a stay in a rambling old hotel run by 1970s British-bloody-Rail would have been like (old fashioned, faded grandeur, serious under-investment in upkeep & modernisation, staff sometime dis-interested, with a handful of loyal 'man & boy' old retainers?).

But I never actually stayed in any of the BR Hotels to confirm my prejudices. Despite doing lots of business travel at the time, for me it was always practical TrustHouse Forte-type establishments, with easy car parking, working phone in the room and a Corby trouser press.

Did anyone stay in any of the BR hotels, or eat in their restaurants? Were there some hidden gems to be found - like travelling by train at the time? Or was the experience more-or-less what you'd expect from a 1970s nationalised hotel?

 

[Revaulx]

I never stayed there, but the public areas and restaurants of the Midland in Manchester were very smart and its French Restaurant was the best in the city.

I did stay at the Caledonian in Edinburgh aged about 10, about 18 months after the adjacent station had closed. It was extremely luxurious and well maintained and certainly not run down in the slightest.

The Old Course at St Andrew’s was a new build, opened just after the railway to the town had closed I think.

So there undoubtedly was significant investment and the hotels I had experience of were extremely well run and customer-focused. Whether that was true of all the hotels is a different matter. I’ve seen photos of the interior of the St Enoch in Glasgow before closure in the 70s and it looks pretty grim. Of course it was sadly demolished not long afterwards and the site redeveloped, so presumably investment was withheld from hotels that were known to have no future.

 

[dk1]

There’s a lady in her 80s that uses my local swimming pool in Norwich who’s husband had to take over failing or under performing hotels. She spent time at Gleneagles & a lot of time at The Royal Station Hotel in Hull. The longest stay however was at Tregenna Castle in Cornwall which lasted several years. Her young children grew up there thinking they where a prince & princess.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

You would expect some positive comments from me.

There were special weekend deals , off season in several BTH places - so we rocked up to the North British in Edinburgh one time. It was excellent in all respects - nice big room and excellent location. The bath was big enough to swim in , but the most iconic thing was the fabulous arays of plated coffee pots , sugar bowls and so on which (in 1980) were all branded LNER or LMS.

A bit of an air of faded grandeur , but excellent value , style and service.

I seem to recall they had a series of branded wine offers - (Malmaison ?) ........I think "Backtrack" did some articles on the BTH , and they were of the view that a very viable core of hotels could have been saved and developed. However the 1980's were not a great time for that - especially with an economy in the doldrums.

 

[robert thomas]

I stayed in many of their hotels in the 70's using the winterbreak promotions which threw in first class travel to the dstination for a minimal cost. All the hotels I stayed in were first class and generally the top hotels for the destination city e.g the North British and the Caledonian in Edinburgh. It is only since privatisation that the quality has become variable. Some have maintained or even elevated standards but many have declined sharply (e.g Fishguard St.Ives Perth & Inverness)or closed

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

Spent my honeymoon at the Station Hotel Perth way back in 1978. Got a reduced rate for being rail staff.

I'm sure the British Transport Hotels HQ was based at St Pancras Chambers in some basement offices.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Spent my honeymoon at the Station Hotel Perth way back in 1978. Got a reduced rate for being rail staff.

I'm sure the British Transport Hotels HQ was based at St Pancras Chambers in some basement offices.

Along with their copious and well stocked wine cellers. Too late to ask now , but I think there were "special deals" offered as there was a bit of a surplus purchased.

 

[Revaulx]

I stayed in many of their hotels in the 70's using the winterbreak promotions which threw in first class travel to the dstination for a minimal cost. All the hotels I stayed in were first class and generally the top hotels for the destination city e.g the North British and the Caledonian in Edinburgh. It is only since privatisation that the quality has become variable. Some have maintained or even elevated standards but many have declined sharply (e.g Fishguard St.Ives Perth & Inverness)or closed

The biggest fall from grace must surely be the Adelphi in Liverpool. Regarded as the best hotel in England outside London in the 1930s; now a member of the famously terrible Britannia group.

 

[Hadrian]

There are few features of BT Hotels which have not yet got a mention:

Some hotels had a small number of rooms which lacked an en-suite bathroom. They were sometimes occupied by rail staff for quite long periods. The rate charged was usually very low but the deal permitted the hotel to make the room unavailable at quite short notice when the hotel was expected to be full with guests paying considerably higher prices. The BTH offices in St Pancras Chambers (not in a basement) would advise railway staff who they needed to contact at each hotel to get the ultra low rate.

For the rooms without en-suite bathrooms there was a bathroom or two close by accessible from a corridor. These bathrooms were also available for use by non residents for a modest fee (towels provided). They were often used by passengers arriving off overnight sleepers and sometimes in the evenings before passengers boarded their sleeper (or before taking dinner before boarding their sleeper).

All or most of the hotels had ties for sale - in the course of my wanderings I stayed in many of the BT hotels and still have the resulting collection of ties. The seahorse from Lochalsh is my favourite.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

I spent one night in the Station Hotel in Perth in the early 80s, it was very comfortable if somewhat dated. As I was leaving early on the Sunday morning (to catch the down Royal Highlander) before breakfast service started they kindly delivered a light breakfast to my room.

Paid a return visit a few years ago and it was the absolute pits.

Also in the early 80's I stayed in the Central Hotel on Glasgow Central station, similar to the Perth hotel at that time but unlike Perth a return visit post BTH did not disappoint.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I stayed at the Great Northern hotel at King's Cross once, nice service but very old-fashioned.
More often I used the West Country-Edinburgh sleeper and enjoyed rolling off the sleeper into the North British hotel for an excellent breakfast (kippers, porridge etc).
You even got to use the lift from the station which avoided having to use the tiresome Waverley Steps.
Heavy snow made me stay overnight on a sofa at the North Stafford hotel at Stoke on one occasion (not then in BTH ownership).
More recently I stayed at the Central hotel in Glasgow (formerly the Caledonian hotel integrated into Central station).
It was in a dreadful state of repair, but has now been completely modernised I believe.

Abroad, I like the Intercity hotel chain in Germany, which are the modern equivalent of the en-route railway hotel.
They are modern, cheerful places, much like Holiday Inns, and give you a free local transport ticket for the duration of your stay.
I think DB still either owns the chain or has a controlling interest.

 

[Merle Haggard]

(..)

I seem to recall they had a series of branded wine offers - (Malmaison ?) (..)

I remember 'Malmaison' wine being offered to staff in Rail News. At the time, using our schoolboy French, we wondered about the choice of name. Or is there something more subtle than the direct 'bad house'?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The biggest fall from grace must surely be the Adelphi in Liverpool. Regarded as the best hotel in England outside London in the 1930s; now a member of the famously terrible Britannia group.

Agreed - what a fall from very high standards (see Tripadvisor reports) , once treated to afternoon tea there by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board after a succesfull and fruitfull meeting , and it was a great experience.

The aforemetioned Kyle Hotel had , back in the day had an epic selection of Scotch products. Knew people who deliberately stayed there for that sole purpose , as well as the views and other joys.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I spent one night in the Station Hotel in Perth in the early 80s, it was very comfortable if somewhat dated.

Agreed. Went there in August 1981. Echo your comments.

The aforemetioned Kyle Hotel had , back in the day had an epic selection of Scotch products. Knew people who deliberately stayed there for that sole purpose , as well as the views and other joys.

Couple of nights there also as part of the same 1981 trip, after an overnight stop at Inverness. Epic views from the breakfast area at the Kyle Hotel, of the CalMac ferry then operating to-and-fro between Kyle and the Isle of Skye.

As I recall, I was endeavouring to partly retrace Michael Palin's footsteps in his 1980 travel documentary for the BBC "Confessions of a Train Spotter", returning back to Glasgow Queen Street via Mallaig and Fort William.

 

[bramling]

The biggest fall from grace must surely be the Adelphi in Liverpool. Regarded as the best hotel in England outside London in the 1930s; now a member of the famously terrible Britannia group.

Yes, sadly horrific now. The North Stafford at Stoke-on-Trent is pretty bad too, which again is a shame as that must have been a pretty grand hotel at one time. Fishguard Bay has also fallen from grace, finally closing due to Covid, and now derelict - we were booked to stay there in 2020, which alas never happened.

I’ve stayed in quite a few of these over the years as most of them are pretty well located, though in all cases after their BTH days.

 

[Revaulx]

Yes, sadly horrific now. The North Stafford at Stoke-on-Trent is pretty bad too, which again is a shame as that must have been a pretty grand hotel at one time. Fishguard Bay has also fallen from grace, finally closing due to Covid, and now derelict - we were booked to stay there in 2020, which alas never happened.

I’ve stayed in quite a few of these over the years as most of them are pretty well located, though in all cases after their BTH days.

BTH did get rid of quite a few (presumably) failing hotels over the years. The whopper in Preston was turned into railway offices in the early 50s, and both the ones you mention were sold as going concerns around the same time along with quite a few others.

I'm not sure how accurate this is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Transport_Hotels

 

[Djgr]

In 1982 I won second prize in a Travellers Fare competition. which was a weekend break for two at any BTH hotel, including all rail travel.

The one at St. Ives was full so we stayed at the Lochalsh Hotel in Kyle, sleeper from Crewe to Inverness, first class.

All great times, before Maggie and Major did their damage.

 

[greyman42]

I don't know when they stopped being station hotels, but i stopped at both the Great Northern and Great Western in London back in the 80s.
They were both quite nice.

 

[Ashley Hill]

All or most of the hotels had ties for sale - in the course of my wanderings I stayed in many of the BT hotels and still have the resulting collection of ties. The seahorse from Lochalsh is my favourite.

I never realised that BTH produced ties,do you have any photos of your examples you could post here?

 

[Lucan]

I've never stayed in one, but Alan Williams, in his column in Modern Railways, once (1980's?) described his room in one as looking like a set for an Alan Pinter play.

PS : Typo - I meant Harold Pinter. Must have been thinking of Alan Bennett.

 

[johnnychips]

I've never stayed in one, but Alan Williams, in his column in Modern Railways, once (1980's?) described his room in one as looking like a set for an Alan Pinter play.

“Antonia……

[Several minutes silence]

Do you think we should get a tie as a forlorn memory of our fleeting encounter here?”

 

[ChiefPlanner]

“Antonia……

[Several minutes silence]

Do you think we should get a tie as a forlorn memory of our fleeting encounter here?”

Excellent - well done !

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was it 1983 or 1984 that the various hotels were sold off, or was the disposal process piecemeal?

 

[john prytherch]

I have enjoyed many very pleasant stays at some of these hotels in the past, mostly over fifteen years ago, and mostly when railroving. I have particularly appreciated their generally very comfortable rooms, and grand staircases. These days I use lifts but when I was a bit fitter I descended them; many years ago, when much fitter, I ascended them too. Most of these hotels provided excellent catering, with breakfast including the availability of plenty of fried bread!

I have stayed in the hotels at London Paddington, Liverpool Adelphi, Glasgow Central, Crewe Arms, Midland Bradford, Midland Derby, Midland Manchester, Queen's Leeds (my favourite), Ayr, Dumfries, Inverness, Perth, London Liverpool Street, London King's Cross, Peterborough (very nice), Great Northern Victoria Bradford, North British Glasgow, North British Edinburgh, Royal Station York, Royal Station Hull, Royal Station Newcastle upon Tyne, Royal Victoria Sheffield, Station Aberdeen, London Charing Cross, and London Grosvenor Victoria.

The only less pleasant experience I had in one was in a non ensuite room at Paddington, right on the top floor.

 

[Rescars]

Back in the day, the 29 BTH hotels were very comfortable and successful establishments, though perhaps a little old fashioned, not least because there were limited resources for refurbishment and renovation. Thus the rooms without en-suite facilities. Public sector financial constraints also prevented the expansion of the group - there was permission to build a hotel at Gatwick, but construction was never allowed. When the end came, instead of preserving a coherent and successful group, most of the hotels were sold off quite rapidly to a variety of operators. One of the first to go was Gleneagles which was floated off as a separate company - one of the first to be styled "plc". The full and sorry tale of privatisation was told in Sauce Supreme written by Peter Land (the BTH chairman).

The BTH HQ was to be found in the faded splendour of St Pancras Chambers (previously the Midland Grand Hotel), where far from being in the basement, it shared the whole building along with Travellers-Fare.

 

[Grumpy]

I recall going up the drive to the Turnberry. In the car of the BR Ayr Area Manager. The car was something like the base model Ford Escort, lots of miles on the clock and looked it. Every other car there seemed to be a Rolls or Bentley.
Of the two Bradford hotels mentioned above BTH sold off the one adjacent to Exchange and kept the one adjacent to Forster Square just at the time BR was concentrating long distance passenger services onto Exchange.

 

[Bishopstone]

As a group of hotels, were they profitable prior to privatisation?

 

[Rescars]

As a group of hotels, were they profitable prior to privatisation? Some must have been far more profitable than others. The Grosvenor Victoria linked to an international airport by Gatwick Express should never have had a problem with selling rooms. The Adelphi must have found it much harder after the airlines took over the transatlantic traffic.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As a group of hotels, were they profitable prior to privatisation? Some must have been far more profitable than others. The Grosvenor Victoria linked to an international airport by Gatwick Express should never have had a problem with selling rooms. The Adelphi must have found it much harder after the airlines took over the transatlantic traffic.

I think there would always be demand to some extent for hotels in large cities. The issue for the likes of the Adelphi is that it can be easier to build a decent new one than to properly modernise an old one, particularly if it involves needing to add en-suite bathrooms and all the required plumbing. I think that's why such hotels are the favourites of the execrable Britannia group - buy them cheap, flog them cheap, let them deteriorate.

 

[pdeaves]

Was it 1983 or 1984 that the various hotels were sold off, or was the disposal process piecemeal?

Some answers here: http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/operators/privatisation.shtm#hotels Mainly piecemeal, starting in 1949!